And you know what? [The Defense] said something here that we’re trying to put a cloud on the Vice President. We’ll talk straight. There is a cloud over what the Vice President did that week. He wrote those columns. He had those meetings. He sent Libby off to Judith Miller at the St. Regis Hotel. At that meeting, … the defendant talked about the wife. We didn’t put that cloud there. That cloud remains because the defendant has obstructed justice and lied about what happened…
He’s put the doubt into whatever happened that week, whatever is going on between the Vice President and the defendant, that cloud was there. That’s not something we put there. That cloud is something that we just can’t pretend isn’t there.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
[closing argument, Libby Trial]
emptywheel has another
complex post about the Cheney interview in the C.I.A. Leak Case and why the DoJ is fighting so hard not to release it. She’s trying to intuit what Cheney must have said in that interview:
I’m stumped, for now. Perhaps they’re trying to prevent new details on the fight with CIA–particularly the effort to trick CIA into revealing Plame’s ID (though that is, frankly, somewhat evident from the publicaly available evidence from the week of June 9). Perhaps they’re trying to hide information that Bush ordered Cheney and Libby to respond to Joe Wilson–and gave them carte blanche to do so. But this, again, is at least partly revealed in Libby’s June 9, 2003 notes and in the meat-grinder note.
Which leaves me with one more observation. DOJ is willing to see this released in several years, but not now. I’m wondering if that has as much to do with a 5 year statute of limitations as it has to do with anything else? Perhaps there’s enough evidence of Bush’s involvement in the leak that they want to avoid any questions of whether Bush obstructed justice when he commuted Libby’s sentence?
Cheney was interviewed on May 8th; Libby had testified on March 5th and March 24th in front of the Grand Jury; and Bush was interviewed by Fitzgerald on June 24th. Neither the Cheney nor the Bush interview was used against Libby in his trial. From my point of view, we know that President Bush had been involved in the decision to "out Plame." We know it from this note:
"Not going to protect one staffer & sacrifice the guy the Pres that was asked to stick his neck in the meat grinder because of the incompetence of others." What else can that mean? The President asked Scooter Libby to stick his neck in the meat grinder [out Valerie Plame to discredit her husband, Joseph Wilson]. Somehow, Cheney thought they had gotten in trouble because of the "incompetence of others" [I don’t know what Cheney means by that].
If the Cheney interview had revealed a crime, Fitzgerald would’ve charged him. If Cheney had lied, Fitzgerald would’ve charged him. If Bush and Cheney’s testimony had discrepencies, Fitzgerald would’ve charged somebody.
| I conclude that Cheney threw Libby under the bus in that interview to protect himself, and that the person he doesn’t want to hear his testimony is Libby. If Libby reads what Cheney actually said in his newspaper, he’s going to feel like the guy who was asked to stick his head in the meat grinder and then sacrificed – and he might turn the cloud over the Vice Presidency into a thunderstorm. |
Likewise, I think that some of the things Cheney said he checked on with Bush [declassifying things], didn’t happen. Bush lied to cover Cheney, and that’s why he wouldn’t pardon Libby [retaliating because Cheney and Libby were operating on their own, claiming Bush’s approval].
I suspect there was an undisclosed meeting with Bush, Cheney, Rove, and maybe Libby, where they hacked out a strategy together. And Bush said, "Do it."
Mickey, I just found a credible reason for Cheney to do all he did and think that the Democratic president and the others wouldn’t go after him. As smart as President Obama is, he might have fallen for the same deal Clinton thought he had with Republicans after Bush 1 left office after Iran Contra affair. Clinton didn’t want to waste time fighting Republicans because he needed their support but of course they just fought tooth and nail. Please check out consortiumnews.com and read the titled article the wedding.