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DOJ Presses Ahead to Keep Cheney’s Secrets
by Scott Horton
On October 1, federal judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the Justice Department had to release records of Patrick Fitzgerald’s interview of Vice President Dick Cheney, conducted in the context of a criminal investigation that ultimately led to the prosecution and conviction of Cheney’s chief-of-staff, Scooter Libby.
by Scott Horton
On October 1, federal judge Emmet Sullivan ruled that the Justice Department had to release records of Patrick Fitzgerald’s interview of Vice President Dick Cheney, conducted in the context of a criminal investigation that ultimately led to the prosecution and conviction of Cheney’s chief-of-staff, Scooter Libby. Sullivan ridiculed the government’s arguments as a “Daily Show defense,” making clear that he did not believe that the fact that disclosure would prove embarrassing to a political figure was a valid consideration.
Still, the judge’s ruling excepted parts of the interview relating to Cheney’s communications with President Bush about the decision to declassify parts of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate that were then leaked as part of an effort to disparage Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
But now the Obama Justice Department is signaling that it may appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals. In a motion filed with the court on October 5, the Justice Department asks for a 30-day stay of the order so that it can make a final decision about an appeal.
But now the Obama Justice Department is signaling that it may appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals. In a motion filed with the court on October 5, the Justice Department asks for a 30-day stay of the order so that it can make a final decision about an appeal.
[For complete article reference links, please see original at No Comment here.]
In 2008, Barack Obama made a pledge of “open government” one of the central pillars of his campaign. He specifically promised to move the Justice Department back to a position of compliance with FOIA legislation, which was routinely violated during the Bush years. But there has been little evidence that the Obama team is keeping this campaign commitment. They have been just as aggressive as their predecessors were in defending the right of the Executive to keep its dealings secret. The squabble over the Cheney interview notes is a prime example. The process began during the Bush Administration, and after the transition no change in the government’s position could be detected.
Here’s Jason Leopold’s summary of the latest developments:
Smith now appears to be arguing for an appeal. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia features a heavily Republican bench, including not a few friends of Dick Cheney. The possibility that an appeals court panel would be willing to step in to shield Cheney from further embarrassment is considerable. This court has over the last decade been a consistent friend of secret government.
[Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey L. ] Smith… argued in July that the transcript of Cheney’s 2004 interview with Fitzgerald about the CIA leak should remain secret for as long as ten more years to protect Cheney from any political embarrassment that would result from the transcript being released… Sullivan rejected Smith’s argument as well as others that claimed releasing the contents of the transcript would derail law enforcement efforts to obtain the cooperation of sitting vice presidents in future criminal probes. “Any attempt to predict the harm that disclosure of these records could have … is therefore inherently, incurably speculative,” Sullivan wrote in his ruling. “Accordingly, the Court concludes that DOJ has failed to meet its burden of demonstrating that the records were properly withheld.”
Smith now appears to be arguing for an appeal. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia features a heavily Republican bench, including not a few friends of Dick Cheney. The possibility that an appeals court panel would be willing to step in to shield Cheney from further embarrassment is considerable. This court has over the last decade been a consistent friend of secret government.
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Keep America Safe
by Scott Horton
If you enjoy fear-mongering, here’s a not-for-profit organization for you: Keep America Safe. William Kristol and Liz Cheney are the dynamic duo behind it. Cheney is just off a Sunday talk show appearance in which she explained that awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to the president of the United States—a decision that coincides with new polls showing America suddenly resurgent as the most admired nation in the world—actually reflects the loss of American leadership and a disdain for America. That was just a taste of the Bizarro World that also appears in a video issued by Keep America Safe. It appears to be stitched together from segments broadcast by Fox News, few of which stand up to fact-checking. (For instance, it suggests that Obama has stripped the defense budget, when in fact this year’s budget is $40 billion larger than last year’s. Charles Krauthammer tells us Obama hasn’t decided what to do about Afghanistan. In fact, Obama has already rejected the idea of a draw-down, so the only question that his team is deliberating is how large the new contingent of troops will be. That contrasts with the Bush-Cheney team, which received a comparable appeal for more troops from its Afghanistan commanders in April 2008, and decided to ignore it.) So, considering that the major departures Obama has made from Bush strategy actually involve more robust use of the military—especially in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani border region—what is it that Obama has done that makes America unsafe?
I’d reduce the real purpose of Keep America Safe to this: “Please don’t prosecute my father!” It’s increasingly clear that Dick Cheney was the author of the Bush-era torture policies, and my hunch is that when the Justice Department releases the OPR report on the torture memos, we’re going to find more evidence of the invisible hand of Dick Cheney behind the whole project. Any fair-minded federal prosecutor looking into the matter would shortly be preparing to do what Patrick Fitzgerald probably wishes now he had done: indict Dick Cheney.
Here’s a Countdown segment reviewing the new Cheney-Kristol initiative and putting it in appropriate perspective.
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