Cheney Failed to Answer 72 FBI Questions

"Failed"? What a worthless p.o.s. More at the link.

(AP) Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald famously declared in the Valerie Plame affair that "there is a cloud over the vice president." Last week's release of an FBI interview summary of Dick Cheney's answers in the criminal investigation underscores why Fitzgerald felt that way.

On 72 occasions, according to the 28-page FBI summary, Cheney equivocated to the FBI during his lengthy May 2004 interview, saying he could not be certain in his answers to questions about matters large and small in the Plame controversy.

(snip)

Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?

Libby's own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney's reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes - notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI - the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.

Sharing the information with Cheney was in itself an unusual step at the outset of a criminal investigation in which potential White House witnesses were being ordered by their superiors not to talk to each other about the Plame matter.

"It turns out that I have a note that I had heard about" Plame's CIA identity "from you," Libby says he told the vice president.

And what did Cheney say in response? Fitzgerald asked Libby in front of a federal grand jury six months later.

"He didn't say much," Libby replied. "You know, he said something about 'From me?' something like that, and tilted his head, something he does commonly, and that was that."

Cheney's version of the conversation, as related in the FBI interview summary?

Cheney "cannot recall Scooter Libby telling him how he first heard of Valerie Wilson. It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson's employment from the vice president ... but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation."

On another basic point, Cheney simply refused to answer.

FBI Ordered to Release Cheney Interview

About time and this could be interesting.

(AP) A federal judge ruled Thursday that the FBI must publicly reveal much of its interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.

The FBI interviewed Cheney in June 2004 as it was investigating the leak of Valerie Plame's identity after her husband publicly criticized the Bush administration. Both the Bush and Obama administrations said they wanted to keep the interview confidential because future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could became public.***

But U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled there was no justification to withhold the entire 67 pages of records documenting the interview since the Plame leak investigation has concluded. He said that limited parts could be withheld to protect national security or personal privacy.

Government attorneys told Sullivan in a hearing this summer that if he ordered the documents released, they would appeal and seek to withhold the documents until the matter is resolved.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the ruling Thursday.

***I just don't get this. You can opt out of testifying in a criminal case just because your words might get out?

Cheney Responds to Time Magazine Scooter Libby story

By GottaLaff

The Limpest Dick gets it up long enough for some premature snarlization:

Former Vice President Dick Cheney issued a statement in the wake of a Time magazine story on his last ditch efforts to push for a presidential pardon for his chief of staff:

"Scooter Libby is an innocent man who was the victim of a severe miscarriage of justice. He was not the source of the leak of Valerie Plame's name. Former Deputy Secretary of State, Rich Armitage, leaked the name and hid that fact from most of his colleagues, including the President. Mr. Libby is an honorable man and a faithful public servant who served the President, the Vice President and the nation with distinction for many years. He deserved a presidential pardon."

Awww, wittle "honorable" Scooty is a victim! His Douchiness says so, so it must be true.

And of all things, His Douchey Dickiness swears that Boy Georgie was left in the dark! Yes, the President of the United States [sic] had no idea what was going on in his own government. Guess he wasn't exactly the Master of his Domain. Talk about impotent.

The Last Hours of the Bush Administration

By GottaLaff

Slimy and Slimier:

In a must-read piece, Time looks at the final days of the Bush administration when Vice President Dick Cheney "had been pleading, cajoling, even pestering" President Bush to pardon his former chief of staff, Scooter Libby.

"These last hours represent a climactic chapter in the mysterious and mostly opaque relationship at the center of a tumultuous period in American history. It reveals how one question -- whether to grant a presidential pardon to a top vice-presidential aide -- strained the bonds between Bush and his deputy and closest counselor. It reveals a gap in the two men's views of crime and punishment. And in a broader way, it uncovers a fundamental difference in how the two men regarded the legacy of the Bush years. As a Cheney confidant puts it, the Vice President believed he and the President could claim the war on terrorism as his greatest legacy only if they defended at all costs the men and women who fought in the trenches. When it came to Libby, Bush felt he had done enough."

Understatement-O'-The-Day

By GottaLaff

From the Department of Obvious:

"It just shows you that Dick Cheney doesn't really have a good political antenna."

--Gloria Borger on CNN just now re: Dick Cheney's deep disappointment about Bush not pardoning Scooter Libby.

Once again, we see why CNN has TBPNTOTV!!!*

*THE BEST POLITICAL NEWS TEAM ON TELEVISION!!!

Cheney Pressed for Libby Pardon

I'm going to bet that Bush doesn't have any post-presidential hunting forays planned with Cheney.

Noting a sharp disagreement with his former boss, former Vice President Dick Cheney told the Weekly Standard that his former chief of staff, Scooter Libby, deserved a presidential pardon.

Said Cheney: "Scooter Libby is one of the most capable and honorable men I've ever known. He's been an outstanding public servant throughout his career. He was the victim of a serious miscarriage of justice, and I strongly believe that he deserved a presidential pardon. Obviously, I disagree with President Bush's decision."

In addition to this issue, Cheney said he disagreed with Bush just four other times: On a gay marriage ban; on firing Donald Rumsfeld; on Washington, D.C.'s gun ban; and on North Korea.

In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume

In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume

Don't think they wouldn't do it.

Plame, Wilson to take CIA leak lawsuit to Supreme Court

By GottaLaff

How I wish Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson could finally get the legal victory that they deserve:

Former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, plan to take their civil lawsuit against Bush administration officials to the Supreme Court after a federal circuit court refused to rehear the case on Monday.

Wilson v. Cheney, filed in 2006, charges that Bush administration officials such as Vice President Cheney, and aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, violated Plame's constitutional rights in allegedly engineering the outing Plame, who was undercover at the time, as retaliation against her husband, an Iraq war critic, who had been sent to Niger in 2002 to investigate the possible sale of yellowcake uranium to Iraq. [...]

"There must be consequences when government officials abuse their power and endanger national security for political ends," said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan on Tuesday. "This is an issue worth fighting over and we will not give up."

Never, ever give up. Not ever.

Cheney's notes v. Scottie's words

By GottaLaff

Fernando and I have been wondering why Scottie's quote from George Bush ("He was saying that you, yourself, was the one that authorized the leaking of this information. And he said 'yeah, I did.'”) is such a revelation. Anyone remember this?

Last year, during the federal criminal trial of Libby, Cheney's handwritten notes were introduced into evidence. The notes revealed that Bush played a larger role in the campaign to discredit Wilson than he had previously acknowledged. To provide some context to McClellan's public comments on the issue, The Public Record is republishing a story by Jason Leopold from the trial of Scooter Libby that explains Bush's role.

Cheney's Handwritten Notes Implicate Bush in Plame Affair
By Jason Leopold
January 31, 2007

Copies of handwritten notes by Vice President Dick Cheney, introduced at a trial by attorneys prosecuting former White House staffer I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, would appear to implicate George W. Bush in the Plame CIA Leak case.

So why was Puffy McMoonFace's book the newsmaker? My take, as I told Fernando, is that:

• It came from a Bushie's mouth, directly... literally, Bush's mouthpiece. Someone he trusted, so the impact was palpable. We could watch him speak, and we could hear his words.
• He repackaged an "old product", that Bush was implicated, and breathed new life into it.
• Therefore, it's "new!" and "different!", like laundry detergent! or... confessions!
  

Other than that, I'm not sure why this particular thing is getting the play that it is, when it is. Any ideas?

Wexler wants McLellan to testify

By GottaLaff

I've always had a soft spot for Robert Wexler. First, he called for Cheney's impeachment, and now this:

Calling the revelations in Scott McClellan’s book “earth-shattering,” Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) has called on the former White House press secretary to testify under oath before the House Judiciary Committee.

Ruh-roh! Did he say... "under oath"? Well, miracles can happen. Maybe Scottie will be one of the few who doesn't evoke the ol' executive privilege.

In a statement released Wednesday, Wexler said McClellan’s admissions “allege facts to establish that Karl Rove and Scooter Libby - and possibly Vice President Cheney - conspired to obstruct justice by lying about their role in the Plame Wilson matter and that the Bush Administration deliberately lied to the American people in order to take us to war in Iraq.”

Wow, those are really, really bad things. Scottie said so. And Scottie knows stuff.

Now that he's come out of his shell, he could be the life of the (Democratic) party.