US: US vice-president Dick Cheney revealed a CIA agent's identity to his chief of staff weeks before the woman's name was leaked to the press two years ago, according to a report in the New York Times.
Citing lawyers involved in an investigation by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into the CIA leak, the paper said that the vice-president got his information about the agent, Valerie Plame, from former CIA director George Tenet.
Ms Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, embarrassed the White House in 2003 when he debunked President Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein tried to import nuclear materials from Niger.
Mr Wilson had gone on a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger in 2002 and found the nuclear claim to be without foundation.
The New York Times reports that Mr Cheney discussed Ms Plame's identity with his chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on June 12th, 2003, and that Mr Lewis took notes of the conversation.
Conservative columnist Bob Novak revealed that Ms Plame was a CIA agent a month later and implied that she arranged for Mr Wilson to go to Niger.
Mr Libby appears to have told Mr Fitzgerald until now that he first heard Ms Plame's name from journalists, a claim that yesterday's report puts in doubt. If Mr Libby concealed details of his conversation with Mr Cheney to protect the vice-president, he could face charges of making false statements to a grand jury.
Mr Fitzgerald is expected to decide whether to bring charges before his grand jury's term expires on Friday and he has warned Mr Libby and Mr Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, that they are in legal jeopardy.
Mr Cheney was interviewed under oath about the CIA leak last year and it is not clear if he spoke about his 2003 conversation with Mr Libby.
In September 2003, Mr Cheney said he did not know Mr Wilson or who sent him to Niger to investigate the nuclear claims.
"I don't know who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back. . . I don't know Mr Wilson. I probably shouldn't judge him. I have no idea who hired him," he said.
Yesterday's report puts greater pressure on a White House that is already braced for the prospect of charges against Mr Libby and Mr Rove that would almost certainly lead to their resignations.
Mr Bush's nominee for the supreme court, Harriet Miers, faces a troublesome hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee next month. Her prospects of being confirmed have worsened with the news that two conservative groups have launched websites to oppose her.
Ms Miers, a former personal lawyer to Mr Bush, faces criticism from left and right over her lack of qualifications and unclear judicial philosophy.
As Mr Bush's problems mount, his political authority is weakening: senators defied the White House last month to vote by 90 to nine in favour of a resolution banning cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners.
A number of US newspapers reported yesterday that Mr Cheney last week pressed lawmakers to exempt the CIA from the ban on inhumane treatment if the president decides that "such operations are vital to the protection of the United States or its citizens from terrorist attack".
Most detainees in US custody overseas are held by the US military but CIA officers often work side by side with soldiers interrogating prisoners.
