Cheney’s FBI Report

/30 Comments/in /by

Murray’s got an important Christmas Eve scoop, reporting key details from Cheney’s FBI interview. I’ll return to the main point of it later, but IMO the really interesting detail is this one:

Both Cheney and Libby have acknowledged that Cheney directed him to meet with Miller, but claimed that the purpose of that meeting was to leak other sensitive intelligence to discredit allegations made by Plame’s husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, that the Bush administration misrepresented intelligence information to go to war with Iraq, rather than to leak Plame’s identity.

This answers the really substantive question I had about Cheney’s FBI interview: whether he attempted to leave open the possibility that he had ordered Libby to leak Plame’s identity–and that, because either Cheney or Bush insta-declassified Plame’s identity, the leak was legal. 

Apparently, Cheney did not. 

I’m off for dinner with mr. ew, so I’ll have to return to the implications of this fact and others later. But in the meantime, go read Murray’s scoop. 

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30 replies
  1. plunger says:

    When you see that it was Mel Sembler who headed up the Libby legal defense fund – and look at the cast of characters who joined in to defend Libby (and in so doing – keep him from turning on them), it is clear that those who were working in concert with Libby and Cheney to plant the Niger Yellowcake document (using Michael Ledeen and Mel Sembler to implement it), were all paying protection money to keep Israeli foreign operative, Libby, out of prison.

    This entire protection racket looked like the PNAC picnic roster.

    How smoking does the gun have to be to prove Israel’s role in coercing the United States into a war (occupation and expansion of “the realm”) under false pretense?

  2. MadDog says:

    I’m off for dinner with mr. ew, so I’ll have to return to the implications of this fact and others later.

    Whaaaaat? Food can wait! This must take precedenc! *g*

    • readerOfTeaLeaves says:

      Yes, ordinarily I would not begrudge Mr EW his dinner, but couldn’t he please grab something on his own when there’s a Murray Waas scoop for EW to decode?

      ;^}

  3. FrankProbst says:

    EW: This answers the really substantive question I had about Cheney’s FBI interview: whether he attempted to leave open the possibility that he had ordered Libby to leak Plame’s identity–and that, because either Cheney or Bush insta-declassified Plame’s identity, the leak was legal.

    Apparently, Cheney did not.

    Looks that way. But I won’t be convinced until I read the transcript. I still think that he may have given them a smirky, “I could have if I’d wanted to.”

    MW: But the investigators came away from their interview with Cheney believing that he had not given them a plausible explanation as to how he could focus attention on Plame’s role in arranging her husband’s trip without her CIA status also possibly publicly exposed.

    I think that this is just a poorly-worded sentence that should read “…from their interview believing Cheney had not given them…” However, I have to say that I prefer the sentence as it’s written, as it implies that Murray Waas has a source close to Cheney as well as a source in the FBI.

  4. MadDog says:

    While we’re impatiently awaiting EW’s return (taps toe nervously), here’s my thoughts on some of the implications:

    1. Fitzgerald convicts Libby with an eye toward turning Scooter into a fink about Cheney, and/or Bush. A well-known prosecutorial tactic to squeeze the little fish in order to get the bigger fish.

    2. Scooter, looking at an unpleasant jolt in a Federal reformatory, starts questioning his loyalies.

    3. Cheney, knowing full well that Scooter can’t do the time, squeezes the Big Cheese – Bush into commuting (not pardoning) Scooter’s conviction.

    4. Commuting, instead of pardoning Scoots, allows both Cheney and Bush to maintain a hold over Scoots, and also ensures that he dare not talk because the hinted at future end of term pardon is still being dangled.

    5. Cheney, by squeezing a Scoots commutation out of the Big Cheese – Bush, obstructs justice because the commutation is indeed a bribe to ensure that Scoots does not spill the beans and testify against Cheney for deliberately and with malice aforethought, betraying Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert CIA identity and occupation.

    6. Cheney was able to squeeze a Scoots commutation out of the Big Cheese – Bush because Junya himself was an equal and avid participant in the conspiracy to destroy the Wilsons.

    So, how does that add up so far? *g*

  6. plunger says:

    It’s my assumption that Rove (”The Architect”) is a central actor at the heart of the Wilson/Plame affair. Viewing the landscape from a higher level, what was actually required was the removal of Brewster Jennings – and their intelligence, that could prove without question that Iraq had no WMD – a total effin’ nightmare for the Neocon cabal dead set on invading and occupying.

    This wasn’t just about discrediting Wilson or outing Plame, it was about shutting down Brewster Jennings. The mark of Rove is all over this thing:

    http://plungerspeaks.blogspot.com

    • R.H. Green says:

      What is he to Brewster-Jennings, and B-J to him that he should so care about them from his higher view. Their activities don’t seem to fall in the area of political manipulation. Rather someone else with a lofty view could care more about what B-J did, or knew.

      • plunger says:

        Political Manipulation? Rove’s activities and skill sets went far beyond domestic politics. He was the architect/enabler of the Globalist’s agenda. We only perceive his activities to be domestic. Justifying the invasion of Iraq (creating the reality) was as political as it gets – if you include psyops and propaganda in the mix.

        Section 1031. Major fraud against the United States

        (a) Whoever knowingly executes, or attempts to execute, any scheme or artifice with the intent –
        (1) to defraud the United States; or
        (2) to obtain money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, in any procurement of property or services as a prime contractor with the United States or as a subcontractor or supplier on a contract in which there is a prime contract with the United States, if the value of the contract, subcontract, or any constituent part thereof, for such property or services is $1,000,000 or more shall, subject to the applicability of subsection (c) of this section, be fined not more than $1,000,000, or imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.

        (1) the gross loss to the Government or the gross gain to a defendant is $500,000 or greater; or

        (2) the offense involves a conscious or reckless risk of serious personal injury.

        http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/….._1031.html

        The financial links between those who lied, and those who benefitted as a direct result of the lies (primarily in the oil and military industries) are clear. The evidence that the President’s speech knowingly included a lie about the Niger Yellow Cake is proveable in a court of law under oath.

        That the Vice President knew for a fact that the claim was based on a forgery in advance of the President’s speech is a given. That he instructed others to ensure that the sentence made it into the speech is also a given. What did the Vice President know, and when did he know it?

        Everytime the Vice President knowingly lied to the American People to advance the cause of war, he committed a crime against the United States which both directly harmed other US citizens and directly enriched himself.

        Indict Dick Cheney for Fraud.

        http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..216fa_fact

        http://www.cbsnews.com/stories…..5356.shtml

        http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..711-7.html

        http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..714-4.html

        The outing of Valarie Plame falls into precisely the same category, as it was specifically designed to ensure that the lead up to war continued apace…

        http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..001-6.html

  7. skdadl says:

    But a person with access to notes of Cheney’s interview with federal investigators described to me what Cheney said during those interviews. Later the same person read to me verbatim portions of the interview notes directly relevant to this story.

    Who would that be?

  8. plunger says:

    Armitage took one for the team – remember? He falsely claimed to be the guy who outed Plame. Here’s how he was rewarded, by the power structure at the top of the conspiracy:

    ARMITAGE KNIGHTED BY THE CROWN:

    http://www.btcnews.com/btcnews/1294

    4/25/2006

    Meet Richard Armitage, Knight Commander

    Richard Armitage, the number two man at Colin Powell’s state department, has been knighted “for services to US-UK relations.” Presumably this is a reference to his diplomatic exertions on behalf of the invasion of Iraq.

    Armitage, one of the innumerable Bush administration graduates of the Reagan era Iran-Contra school of murderous skullduggery, was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (KCMG).

    He was joined on the honours list by several US military officers, including Captain John Peterson.

    Peterson’s claim to fame? “Peterson, chief of staff to the commander of the US navy in the Middle East, was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire) for – according to the Pentagon – leading British and American forces “in the campaign to secure Iraqi oil assets” at the start of the 2003 invasion.”

    Absent his outstanding service, Iraq might be a shambles.

    The news comes to us courtesy of Chris Floyd, who notes Armitage’s efforts on behalf of US-drug dealing terrorist relations during the Iran-Contra affair, and wonders whether even higher honors might be in store for the future former president, assuming that happy designation ever applies.

    “ If Armitage gets this kind of gilded wheeze for mere minioning in some of the most murderous operations of the past half-century, then great googily-moogily, what’s George W. going to get, when he retires, for actually being the trigger-man for the world-convulsing killing spree in Iraq? Not to mention his relentless and ruthless gutting of the U.S. Constitution? What honor would suffice for this sterling service? No mere knighthood or baronage will do; Lizzie will have to adopt him into the royal family or something, name him heir to the throne.

    After all, his whole life’s work has been aimed at overthrowing the American Revolution and restoring feudal rule by aristocrats, warlords, religious cranks and simpering courtiers. Why not just bring the whole thing full circle back to Buckingham Palace?”

    Armitage — whose former boss, Powell, was made a Knight Commander of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (KCB), one letter less but one notch above Armitage’s KCMG, for his services in the first Gulf War — was nominated for the honor by British foreign minister Jack Straw, who is no doubt in line for recognition of his own role in facilitating the Mother of All Train Wrecks in Iraq.

    Why do US officials still kneel before the queen to receive their accolades? The question answers itself.

  9. JThomason says:

    Looks like Cheney has lost the ability to push the ball down the road with respect to concealing the details of this interview. This is something that must concern him especially if he does not believe he provided a compelling account of how he could keep Plame’s covert status protected from his effort to instantly declassify national intelligence and raise questions about Plame’s role at the CIA especially where, if this was his intent, he failed miserably.

  10. Hmmm says:

    Startin’ to think W’s gonna let Dick just kinda hang out there all on his lonesome. Wouldn’t that be a thing to behold. If there were gonna be just once sacrificial lamb from the W years, he should be the one.

      • Hmmm says:

        Aloha, CT. Happy holidays to you. I know, TB’s tempting, but he was never a Constitutional officer. Docking Dick would fix the we-never-prosecuted-Nixon thing too, he was part of that.

        (There’s an old Japanese house on the market in Hilo right now that I can afford and would move to, if only I could pull off the logistics… which I can’t right now… sigh.)

  11. radiofreewill says:

    I think it’s fair to say that Cheney wanted to Crush Joe Wilson for the July 6th Op-Ed. Nobody was allowed to call-out Cheney so boldly as Joe did – and Darth was going to Make Joe Pay!

    The signifigance of changing the talking points on the 8th to say “We don’t know who sent Joe Wilson to Niger” is that it’s An Obvious Lure that leads directly to Joe Wilson’s wife, then-CIA Officer Valerie Plame Wilson.

    Cheney was told by Tenet and MacLaughlin, the month before, that Valerie worked in the Covert CounterProliferation Department, and that she had a perfunctory, minimal role in sending Joe to Africa.

    So, what does Cheney do when confronted with Joe Wilson’s Op-Ed?

    Cheney invites the Knee-pad Press to ‘hunt’ over bait that he, himself, has layed out for them – July 8th’s talking point number one – which practically guaranteed that the Press would bag the game Cheney wanted them to shoot – Joe Wilson’s Wife, Valerie!

    So, this is closer to a ’smoking gun’ than it may look at first glance.

    Cheney was told, in no uncertain terms, by Tenet and MacLaughlin, that Valerie was ‘off-limits.’

    So, what did Darth do? In order to ‘get’ Joe Wilson, Cheney took a Camoflaged Shot at Valerie – as if it was Fair Game to Hunt Valerie from a Blind – out of sight.

    Cheney directed the ‘whisper campaign’ (1×2×6) to slander Joe with a wink-and-nod innuendo of nepotism, sloppy work and boondoggling – all made possible by ‘Wilson’s conniving wife’, Valerie Plame. Information that could be checked out with the CIA by Flat-backing Shills like Novak.

    But, Cheney’s original intent of taking down Joe – by smearing him with Joe’s own ‘fallen’ wife – blew-up in his face when the investigation into Valerie’s blown cover revealed both Libby and Rove – cowering like weaklings behind the ‘confidential sources’ protection of the Press, from where they ‘took their shots at Valerie’ like she was Fair Game – all on the Orders of…

    …you know who.

    So, told in no uncertain terms that Valerie was ‘off-limits’ – Cheney got caught secretly, but hatefully, orchestrating her ’shooting’ anyway – in a cruel, shameful ploy to get Revenge on Joe.

    Cheney ‘twisted’ the Intel on Iraq to get Saddam.

    And Joe called him on it.

    Then Cheney ‘twisted’ the Intel on Valerie to get Joe.

    And EW called him on that.

    • timethief says:

      Brewster Jennings was a threat. I think Brewster Jennings was as much of a threat as Joe Wilson. My understanding is that B/J looked for WMD and could find none and their opinion had to have some weight in the CIA so I think Cheney knew Brewster Jennings was going to be a problem and could take both Wilson and B/J out with one leak.

    • timethief says:

      Brewster Jennings was a threat. I think Brewster Jennings was as much of a threat as Joe Wilson. My understanding is that B/J looked for WMD and could find none and their opinion had to have some weight in the CIA so I think Cheney knew Brewster Jennings was going to be a problem and could take both Wilson and B/J out with one leak.
      reply

      • bluebutterfly says:

        Valerie Plame was getting too close to exposing the facts as to what members of the US government are involved in Khan’s nuclear black market. The minute they outed her, they became responsible for outing all of Brewster’s contacts. We will never know how many died because of this.

  12. Neil says:

    Another great post EW. Like making an omelet, you have to turn it over to see how it is cooked. How generous of Murray Waas to bring this up during Bush Cheney victory tour.

  13. wavpeac says:

    Oh my goodness this was fun reading. Ahh…just like old times. (back when I thought we might actually impeach these guys out of office). How naive was I back then? Wow…thank goodness these e-mails can be studied by historians someday. I hope this stuff is hard copied somewhere…oh yea…I forgot there was a great book…and it’s waiting a part two, is it not?

    oh this is so why I come to this wonderful site!

  15. bigtimepatriot says:

    Hey, speaking of “insta-declassification”, now that Dick Cheney has spoken about his “classified” meetings with congress about warrentless wire tapping, aren’t those meetings now “declassified by Vice-Presidential fiat”? And so the congress members involved have been given the okay to discuss anything about them they choose to?

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