WaxWorks
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Thursday, February 16, 2006
Shooting an Elderly Man in the Face May Be the Least of His Problems
While the likelihood that Cheney engaged in a cover up over the hunting accident increases with each day, the Plame leak investigation hasn't gotten a lot of notice recently. But it looks like Cheney could have some problems there as well:
Sources close to the investigation into the leak of covert CIA agent
Valerie Plame Wilson have revealed this week that Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales has not turned over emails to the special prosecutor's office that may
incriminate Vice President Dick Cheney, his aides, and other White House
officials who allegedly played an active role in unmasking Plame Wilson's
identity to reporters.
Moreover, these sources said that, in early 2004, Cheney was
interviewed by federal prosecutors investigating the Plame Wilson leak and
testified that neither he nor any of his senior aides were involved in unmasking
her undercover CIA status to reporters and that no one in the vice president's
office had attempted to discredit her husband, a vocal critic of the
administration's pre-war Iraq intelligence. Cheney did not testify under
oath or under penalty of perjury when he was interviewed by federal
prosecutors.
The emails Gonzales is said to be withholding contained references to
Valerie Plame Wilson's identity and CIA status and developments related to the
inability to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Moreover, according to
sources, the emails contained suggestions by the officials on how the White
House should respond to what it believed were increasingly destructive comments
Wilson’s husband had been making about the administration's pre-war Iraq
intelligence...
I thought this was an interesting paragraph, given the allegations against Libby:
Cheney testified for a little more than an hour about his role in the leak in
early 2004. What he told prosecutors appears to be identical to
testimony his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, gave before a grand jury during the same year. Libby was indicted on five-counts of
obstruction of justice, perjury, and lying to investigators related to his role
in the Plame Wilson leak....
And here's something more to chew on:
News reports citing people familiar with Libby's testimony said Cheney had
authorized Libby to do so. Additionally, an extensive investigation during the
past month has shown that Cheney, Libby and former Deputy National Security
Adviser Stephen Hadley spearhead an effort beginning in March 2003 to discredit
Plame Wilson's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a vocal critic of the
administration's intelligence related to Iraq, who had publicly criticized the
administration for relying on forged documents to build public support for the
war.
Cheney did not disclose this information when he was questioned by
investigators.
Cheney responded to questions about how the White House came to rely on
Niger documents that purportedly showed that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium
from the African country. Cheney said he had received an intelligence briefing
on the allegations in late December 2003 or early January 2004 and had asked the
CIA for more information about the issue.
Cheney said he was unaware that Wilson was chosen to travel to Niger to
look into the uranium claims and that he never saw a report Wilson had given a
CIA analyst upon his return, which stated that the Niger claims were untrue. He
said the CIA never told him about Wilson's trip.
However, these attorneys said that witnesses in the case have
testified before a grand jury that Cheney, Libby, Hadley, the Pentagon, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the State Department, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Justice Department, the FBI, and other senior aides in the Office of the Vice President, the President, and the National Security Council had received and read a March 9, 2002, cable sent to his office by the CIA that debunked the Niger claims.
The cable, which was prepared by a CIA analyst and based on Wilson's
fact-finding mission, did not mention Wilson by name, but quoted a CIA source
and Niger officials Wilson had questioned during his eight-day mission, who said
there was no truth to the claims that Iraq had tried to purchase 500 tons of
yellowcake uranium ore from Niger.
Several current and former State Department and CIA officials familiar with
the March 9, 2002, cable said they had testified before the grand jury
investigating the Plame Wilson leak that they had spoken to Libby and Hadley
about the cable, and that they were told Cheney had also read
it.
Cheney told investigators that when Wilson began speaking to reporters on
background about his secret mission to Niger to investigate Iraq's alleged
attempts to purchase uranium, he asked Libby to contact the CIA to "get more
information" about the trip and to find out if it was true, the attorneys added.
Furthermore, Cheney told prosecutors that before he learned of Wilson's
trip, his office simply sought to rebut statements made by Wilson to reporters
and the various newspaper reports that said the Bush administration knowingly
relied on flawed intelligence to build a case for war.
Moreover, Cheney said that he and his aide were concerned that reporters had been under the impression that Cheney chose Wilson for the Niger trip, the attorneys said. Cheney testified that he instructed Libby and other aides to coordinate a response to those queries and rebut those allegations with the White House press office.
"In his testimony the vice president said that his staff
referred media calls about Wilson to the White House press office," one
attorney close to the case said. "He said that was the appropriate venue for
responding to statements by Mr. Wilson that he believed were wrong."
I found this section to be of particular interest:
Cheney told investigators that he first learned about Valerie Plame Wilson
and her employment with the CIA from Libby. Cheney testified that Libby told him
that several reporters had contacted him in July to say that Plame Wilson had
been responsible for arranging her husband's trip to Niger to investigate the
Niger uranium claims.
Cheney also testified that the next time he recalled hearing about
Plame Wilson and her connection to Joseph Wilson was when he read about her in a
July 14, 2003, column written by syndicated columnist Robert Novak.
Learned it from Libby, huh? Let's look at paragraph 9 of the Libby indictment:
9. On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of
the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency
in the Counterproliferation Division. LIBBY understood that the Vice
President had learned this information from the CIA.
Sounds like someone's got some 'splaining to do. But Dick Cheney hasn't had a press conference since 2002. And it's interesting that he wasn't under oath when he spoke to Fitzgerald. But lying to federal investigators is still a crime.
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Alito Hires Former Republican Congressional Candidate As Clerk
I don't recall Justice Alito making a statement similar to Chief Justice Robert's "I am not an ideologue" during his confirmation hearings. Apparently there's a reason why.
Alito has just hired a number of new clerks, including a former Ashcroft aide in the Justice Department. But perhaps the most interesting is the hiring of Jay Jorgensen. (Here's a Federalist Society publication drafted by Jorgensen arguing that Ruth Bader Ginsburg's refusal to answer certain questions during her confirmation hearings means that current Bush Administration judicial nominees should be able to do the same).
Not only did Jorgensen, currently a partner at Sidley & Austin who previously clerked for Rehnquist (and Alito) years ago, actively work to oppose the nomination of Harriet Miers, but he ran (unsuccessfully) for the Republican nomination for Congress in Utah in 2002.
I'd be interested in knowing if the Court has EVER had a Congressional candidate as a clerk before (my understanding is that it has never happened), but that should tell you something about how political the newest justice truly is.
It's odd enough to hire older clerks, rather than ones almost directly out of law school. But to hire clerks like these tells me that Alito's opinion's will be far-right from the get go. Sure makes Alito's disavowals of his 1985 application look pretty transparently false, huh?
Looks like another Republican nominee (i.e. Clarence Thomas, Ted Olson, Miguel Estrada) has committed perjury before the Senate Judiciary Committee. I assume that's why Attorney General Gonzales wasn't put under oath when he testified about the NSA wiretapping.
Cheney's Got A Gun
Jon Stewart and the Daily Show took on the Cheney issue as only they can (click on "VP Firearms Mishap Analyst"):
Jon Stewart: "I'm joined now by our own vice-presidential firearms mishap
analyst, Rob Corddry. Rob, obviously a very unfortunate situation. How is the
vice president handling it?
Rob Corddry: "Jon, tonight the vice president is standing by his
decision to shoot Harry Wittington. According to the best intelligence
available, there were quail hidden in the brush. Everyone believed at the time
there were quail in the brush.
"And while the quail turned out to be a 78-year-old man, even knowing that
today, Mr. Cheney insists he still would have shot Mr. Whittington in the face.
He believes the world is a better place for his spreading buckshot throughout
the entire region of Mr. Whittington's face."
Jon Stewart: "But why, Rob? If he had known Mr. Whittington was not a bird,
why would he still have shot him?"
Rob Corddry: "Jon, in a post-9-11 world, the American people expect their
leaders to be decisive. To not have shot his friend in the face would have sent
a message to the quail that America is weak."
Jon Stewart: "That's horrible."
Rob Corddry: "Look, the mere fact that we're even talking about how the
vice president drives up with his rich friends in cars to shoot farm-raised
wingless quail-tards is letting the quail know 'how' we're hunting them. I'm
sure right now those birds are laughing at us in that little 'covey' of
theirs.
Jon Stewart: "I'm not sure birds can laugh, Rob."
Rob Corddry: "Well, whatever it is they do … coo .. they're cooing at us
right now, Jon, because here we are talking openly about our plans to hunt them.
Jig is up. Quails one, America zero.
Jon Stewart: "Okay, well, on a purely human level, is the vice president at
least sorry?"
Rob Corddry: "Jon, what difference does it make? The bullets are already in
this man's face. Let's move forward across party lines as a people … to get him
some sort of mask."
I guess it's also important to note that it was a good thing that Cheney got those five deferrments during Vietnam. God knows how many of our own men he would have taken out.
The bigger question, I think, is why did Cheney wait until 8 am the next morning before he met with the Sheriff? It wouldn't be because Mr. Two-Time DUIer VP needed to sleep off whatever he was drinking at the time? Indeed, when a cop arrived at the ranch that night, he was sent away and told that the VP was going to meet with the Sheriff the next morning.
It's certainly interesting that in the statement that the Sheriff put out on Monday he noted, somewhat gratuitously, that "The investigation reveals that there was no alcohol... involved in the incident." Oh, I'm sure that his "investigation" the NEXT MORNING was really able to pin down whether Cheney had been drinking the night before.
And before people dismiss this as wishful-thinking/liberal conspiracy, let's take a look at the initial report on MSNBC quoting Ms. Armstrong, the owner of the ranch, about the incident:
"There may be a beer or two in there," she said, "but remember not everyone inThat line was subsequently removed from the posting.
the party was shooting."
So I'll repeat again what I said previously: cover up, anyone?
Monday, February 13, 2006
Please Nominate This Man
Remember the criticism leveled at Gore and Kerry by Republicans that they weren't "regular guys," like blue-blood Bush, and that Gore and Kerry were stuck in Washington-speak? (Here's a great Onion bit dealing with that very issue).
Well, here's Bill Frist "campaigning" for President in New Hampshire:
During an interview earlier this month in Hampstead, N.H., where he was
courting GOP activists, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) was asked
which member of his caucus he would most want to join him on a three-day camping
trip :
Frist: "Pete Domenici," referring to the senator from New
Mexico.
Why?
Frist: "He's got experience."
As a camper?
Frist: "Well, he can shoot a shotgun pretty well. But mostly because he
gets the big picture. Has lots of budget experience. He understands
entitlements, the heart of the issue, which most politicians are chicken to
address."
So you'd want someone who understands entitlements with you on a camping
trip?
Frist: "Oh, I thought you meant, oh. I thought we were gonna be talking on
this camping trip around the fire. Uh. Uh. Let's see, [New Hampshire's] Judd
Gregg, no."
He turns to an aide and asks, "Who are our outdoorsmen?"
Frist continues: "Let's see. [South Dakota's John] Thune would be good --
he hunts. Let me think. Leadership team . . . nope. Chairman's meeting . . . uh,
no. Let's see. I'd say Thune, he's a man who's comfortable out there."
I will contribute to his campaign, if that'll help.
Irony Alert
Ken Starr has been representing a death row inmate in a high-profile case. Well, news reports have shown that it's highly likely that Starr suborned perjury from people in declarations he submitted in support of his filings. But due to the fact that that case only involves a man's life and does not involve sex in any way, it's unlikely that the right-wing will get too worked up about it.
Reminds me of what ended up happening in the Kathleen Willey/Julie Hiatt Steele case, prosecuted and investigated by Starr. Willey, as you probably recall, had made allegations that Clinton had acted improperly towards her, and Starr, by some ridiculous finagling, had gotten that case included within his jurisdiction. Steele initially supported Willey's allegations, but later recanted, saying that Willey had pressured her to support the allegations. Starr then prosecuted Steele for lying to investigators, based on her recanting, since Starr believed Willey over her. (Which, interestingly, is precisely why Susan McDougal was so afraid to testify before Starr's grand jury, since she thought he would prosecute her for perjury if she testified truthfully and didn't support her husband's story.)
However, it then came out that Willey had lied under oath to Starr's investigators about an affair she had. Just like a certain person named B.C. So Starr must have prosecuted her like crazy, right? Nope. He granted her immunity. You lied about sex? No problem. You're not Bill Clinton.
Antonin Scalia Is Lucky to Be Alive
The whole Dick Cheney hunting "accident" story is truly one of those things you can't make up. Is there anything that this guy doesn't screw up? A few thoughts.
First, combined with the story coming out that Cheney authorized Libby to leak classified portions of the NIE to defend the pre-war intelligence, this hunting story now links Cheney with Aaron Burr in two ways: both are the only sitting Vice-Presidents to have committed treason and shot a man during their time in office.
Again, running this story through the "How Would the Right React if Clinton Had Done It" machine, consider the fact that Cheney waited 24 hours before notifying anyone in the media that this happened (and by "this" I'm referring to the serious fact that the VP shot someone, not a minor story). And we now are learning that Cheney NEVER informed the media about what had happened -- the person whose ranch it was ultimately did it. I'm thinking back to delays in the Vince Foster investigation that spurned right-wing conspiracy theories. Cover up anyone?
But I'm struck with how this incident is similar to how the Administration, and Cheney in particular, handles everything: never admit you did anything wrong, no matter how culpable you are. Although it seems clear that Cheney is at fault here (it's hard to come to any other rational conclusion, as other hunters have said), he's showing all the class of the gentleman that we (and Senator Leahy in particular) know him to be, by blaming the ELDERLY MAN THAT HE SHOT. Very nice.
So, I've now changed my view on the duck hunting trip that Cheney took with Scalia. I want to know when they are going again, and if they can take Justice Thomas with them next time.
UPDATE: This is rich:
Presidential spokesman Scott McClellan said Monday that Bush and senior
aides were told Saturday night by the staff of the White House Situation Room
that somebody in the Cheney's hunting party was shot, but he said he was not
told until Sunday morning that Cheney was the shooter. He said he contacted the
vice president's office about making the information public.
