{"id":3302,"date":"2009-07-06T22:44:04","date_gmt":"2009-07-07T02:44:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=3302"},"modified":"2009-07-07T07:56:20","modified_gmt":"2009-07-07T11:56:20","slug":"obamas-doj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2009\/07\/06\/obamas-doj\/","title":{"rendered":"Obama’s DoJ?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak<\/a>
Discussions of CIA Agent Listed in Filing<\/strong>
Washington Post
By R. Jeffrey Smith July 3, 2009 <\/div>\n

A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department<\/strong> offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration’s public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson’s employment by the CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration deliberations. The administration’s discussion of Wilson’s link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to testimony presented in a 2007 trial. <\/p>\n

A list of at least seven related conversations involving Cheney appears in a new court filing approved by Obama appointees at the Justice Department<\/strong>. In the filing, the officials argue that the substance of what Cheney told special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald in 2004 must remain secret. No such agreement was reached between Fitzgerald and Cheney at the time of their chat, according to a 2008 Fitzgerald letter to lawmakers. But the Bush administration rejected requests by Congress and a nonprofit group for access to two FBI accounts of the conversation, saying the material was exempt from disclosure under subpoena or the Freedom of Information Act. <\/p>\n

The Obama administration<\/strong> has since agreed that the material should not be disclosed. A Justice Department lawyer<\/strong> at one point last month argued that vice presidents and other White House officials will decline to be interviewed in the future if they know their remarks might "get on ‘The Daily Show’ " or be used as fodder for political enemies…<\/p>\n

The nonprofit group pushing for disclosure, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, responded yesterday with a statement that the Justice Department has subpoenaed such officials without difficulty in the past. "It is astonishing that a top Department of Justice political appointee<\/strong> is suggesting other high-level appointees are unlikely to cooperate with legitimate law enforcement investigations. What is wrong with this picture?" said Melanie Sloan, head of the group. <\/p>\n

A list of what Cheney and Fitzgerald discussed appears in a declaration to the court by Acting Assistant Attorney General David J. Barron, who oversees the department’s Office of Legal Counsel. Barron said he thinks substantial portions of the chat are covered by "the deliberative process privilege," protecting advice, recommendations and other "deliberative communications" between government officials…<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
I was trying to remember if back in 1970 if the Department of Justice officials would be called Nixon appointees at the Justice Department<\/strong><\/font>. I kind of doubt it. Before Bush, it was just the Justice Department<\/strong><\/font>. We’ve gotten so used the Justice Department being used by the White House [the Mythical Unitary Executive] that it doesn’t even occur to us that the Department of Justice is supposed to be separate from the Executive except for the Attoerney General’s Cabinet Status. Put "Obama DOJ" into Google and look at how many hits you get. It’s "Obama’s DOJ<\/strong><\/font>" all over the place.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

In fact, during the hearings about the firing of the U.S. Attorneys, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse produced a slide that compared the connections between the Clinton White House to the DoJ with the Connections between the Bush White House and the DoJ.<\/div>\n
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And Obama has publicly left Justice in the hands of the Justice Department. For example<\/strong><\/a>:<\/div>\n
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OBAMA:<\/strong> The OLC memos that were released reflected in my view us losing our moral bearings. … For those who carried out some of these operations within the four corners of legal opinions or guidance that had been provided from the White House, I do not think it’s appropriate for them to be prosecuted. With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that is going to be more of a decision for the Attorney General within the parameters of various laws, and I don’t want to prejudge that.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Unless Obama and Holder are lying, we are remiss in seeing the actions of the DoJ as Obama’s anything<\/strong><\/em>. If he’s not sticking to the rules, then he needs to be reminded. The top of the DoJ is appointed by the President. That’s where the connection is supposed to end. Remember acting Attorney General James Comey<\/strong> who was ready to resign rather than rubber-stamp Bush’s policies. Then, remember Elliot Richardson<\/strong><\/a>, an Attorney General who did<\/u> resign over Nixon’s attempts to take over the Department of Justice.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Now, about the DoJ<\/strong>‘s arguments on with-holding Cheney’s FBI<\/strong> Interview in the CIA<\/strong> leak case. I’m with CREW<\/strong> all the way:<\/div>\n
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The nonprofit group pushing for disclosure, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, responded yesterday with a statement that the Justice Department has subpoenaed such officials without difficulty in the past. "It is astonishing that a top Department of Justice political appointee is suggesting other high-level appointees are unlikely to cooperate with legitimate law enforcement investigations. What is wrong with this picture?<\/strong>" said Melanie Sloan, head of the group. <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak Discussions of CIA Agent Listed in Filing Washington Post By R. Jeffrey Smith July 3, 2009 A document filed in federal court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration’s public response to the disclosure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3302\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}