The principal players

I. LEWIS

‘SCOOTER’ LIBBY

Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, he was found guilty by a federal court jury on four counts of lying and obstruction of justice in the CIA leak investigation.

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VALERIE PLAME

A former covert CIA officer identified in a July 2003 column by Robert Novak, she is the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV.

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JOSEPH C.

WILSON IV

A former U.S. ambassador, he found no evidence on a trip to Niger for claims that Iraq had attempted to buy yellowcake uranium from that nation. He publicly criticized President Bush for saying otherwise in a State of the Union speech.

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ARI FLEISCHER

The White House press secretary at the time of the leak, he testified that Libby spoke to him about Plame before publication of her name.

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DICK CHENEY

The vice president was expected to be a defense witness but did not testify. He and two other administration officials told Libby about Plame and her role at the CIA before her identity was made public.

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KARL ROVE

A senior advisor to Bush, he has admitted to telling a reporter about Plame.

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TIM RUSSERT

The Washington bureau chief of NBC News, he testified that he never told Libby about Plame’s CIA role -- disputing Libby’s central claim to investigators.

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JUDITH MILLER

Then a New York Times reporter, she spent 85 days in jail for refusing to disclose her conversations with Libby. She testified at trial that Libby discussed Plame with her before publication of the agent’s identity.

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MATTHEW COOPER

A Time magazine reporter at the time, he disputed Libby’s version of their conversation about Plame.

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ROBERT NOVAK

The columnist disclosed publicly in July 2003 that Plame was a CIA officer. He said his sources on Plame were White House political director Karl Rove and then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage.

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BOB WOODWARD

The assistant managing editor at the Washington Post and a defense witness, he testified that Armitage had told him about Plame before Libby discussed the issue with reporters.

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PATRICK J. FITZGERALD

The special prosecutor in the CIA leak investigation. After more than two years of investigating who revealed Plame’s name, the Chicago-based U.S. attorney did not bring a leak charge. Instead, he accused Libby of lying to the FBI and a federal grand jury.

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THEODORE V. WELLS JR.

He and William Jeffress Jr., Libby’s lead lawyers, have represented clients such as President Nixon, former Sen. Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.), tobacco companies, former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy and former Labor Secretary Raymond J. Donovan.

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REGGIE B. WALTON

The judge in Libby’s trial. A former prosecutor who served as deputy drug czar under President George H.W. Bush, U.S. District Judge Walton was one of the current president’s first judicial nominees.

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Source: Los Angeles Times, wires