FITZ PLANS ON CALLING CHENEY AS WITNESS - EXEC. PRIVILEGE FIGHT (Sludge)

[jefferson_dem]

For whatever it's worth, here's what's being reported at sludge's cesspool of a website ->

PROSECUTOR PLANS ON CALLING CHENEY AS WITNESS IN OPEN COURT; EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE FIGHT LOOMS

**Exclusive**

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald is planning to call Vice President Dick Cheney as a witness in the trial of Lewis Libby, the DRUDGE REPORT has leaned.

But the high stakes move could result in an executive privilege showdown between the White House and Fitzgerald, a top government source said Sunday.

"If Mr. Fitzgerald is going to demand a public recounting of conversations between the vice president, or even the president, and his staff, on matters he, himself, has acknowledged are 'classified,' executive privilege will obviously be invoked."

Fitzgerald has made it clear to lawyers involved in the case that he prefers Cheney appear as a witness in open court.

"Mr. Fitzgerald is starting from the position that this should not be done on remote or videotape," the well-placed source said.

Fitzgerald and Libby's attorney Joseph Tate discussed possible plea options before the indictment was issued last week, TIME magazine reports in new editions. But the deal was scotched because the prosecutor insisted that Libby do some "serious" jail time.

Developing...

<you know the link if you want it>

[merwin]

1. Uh, is the information still classified if the administration distributes

it to the media?

Can't claim executive privilege on something that's public knowledge.

[sasquatch]

2. NAH, NAH, NAH GONNA HAVE A GOOD TIME, HEY, HEY, HEY, HEY!

I wonder if his heart will give out while on the stand?
:D

[jimshoes]

3. These people

will have to be taken away kicking and screaming because they are never going to cooperate. willingly.

[Roland99]

4. "has leaned"? We know Drudge leans but at least he's stating it now.

:rofl:

[jefferson_dem]

8. LOL! Looks like he hasn't lea(r)ned to type or hire a copy editor either.

n/t.

[thinkingwoman]

5. I just have one thing to say...

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:


Ow, my stomach hurts.

[deadparrot]

6. Didn't Drobny say on Malloy Friday night that they hadn't claimed

executive privilege yet, so Fitz hadn't really hit anything?

[Roland99]

7. If true, you know what this is a sign of??

That Fitzgerald is PISSED that he was lied to, making the trial drag out for months and months and months.

[jefferson_dem]

9. Right-o! Also see that the ONLY plea he would enter into with Scooter

is one that requires "serious" jail time.

Back meet wall, you neocon fucks~!

[wtmusic]

14. With Scooter looking at 30 years in the hole

we might actually "learn" who put him up to spilling Plame's identity...

[Halliburton]

10. He should also be mad at Karl

who did his damnedest to lie to him and may have gotten away with it because of a flimsy email. :mad:

[Roland99]

18. How easy is it to fake an email message? Degree of difficulty: 0.2

[rainbow4321]

26. Guess chimp and his fellow cronies picked the wrong person to lie to.....

http://www.detnews.com/2005/politics/0510/30/polit-365096.htm

Colleagues and others say he doesn't like being lied to. One defense lawyer who went up against Fitzgerald says, "he takes it personally."

So just a few weeks after getting his initial marching orders, Fitzgerald requested, and obtained, additional "authority to investigate and prosecute violations of any federal criminal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure, as well as federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, your investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses," according to a memo made public last week.

Fitzgerald also won unilateral authority to conduct appeals arising out of any prosecution, and the authority to pursue administrative remedies and civil sanctions, such as the charges of contempt of court that ultimately landed New York Times reporter Judith Miller in jail for 85 days for refusing to cooperate.

That Feb. 6, 2004 memo Fitzgerald asked for illustrates how cautiously he has run the investigation, and how he has been laying the groundwork for a possible criminal conspiracy case for almost two years, former colleagues said. Meanwhile, Fitzgerald has shuttled back and forth between Washington and Chicago, where his office's political corruption prosecutions of top city officials have continued full-tilt.

[Garbo 2004]

11. Wouldn't Fitz be covering the territory already discussed with Cheney

when Fitz questioned him in 2004? Would executive privilege attach to that? The substance of their discussion isn't already a part of the (albeit sealed) grand jury proceedings' records?

Obviously, they can't hide behind Plame info is classified when they were the ones who publicized it and Scooter's notes (hey, when did those get into Fitz's hands and who gave them to him? Did Scooter already cut a deal and we just don't know it?) are already part of the grand jury evidence. Who told whom what isn't exactly a state secret anymore.

One can imagine many reasons however why Cheney would not want to appear under oath in open court subject to direct and cross interrogation. Heh.

[wtmusic]

13. There are probably new questions

which Fitz could ask Cheney given the amount of information which has been recovered since his first appearance.

[spindrifter]

12. If Ch*ney is declared

unavailable by the court, then his statements to others or heard by others who are available to testify can be admitted. Heh! Heh! Then the issue becomes, are the others credible? Are they biased? Should be interesting. I bet all my wooden nickels that we won't see the Dickster on any witness stands.

[Fovea]

25. In fact

Could that be a move by Fitz?

Fork him like a rook and a queen. If he goes into open court under oath, rake him over Libby and *others* who knew of and participated in the conspiracy. If he claims Executive Priv. Fitz hauls out two or three damaging secondary witnesses to slap him with his own words.

[Boo Boo]

15. This, IMO, is why Bush was trying so hard to rig the SC with insiders

He got what he wanted with Roberts (Iran/Contra pardons, Bush vs. Gore), but over-played his hand with Miers. They're going to try to invoke Executive Privilege at some point, and they need the SC to back them up. The current court might not, the previous court would not have, but with Miers it probably would have been a slam dunk.

[goforit]

16. Is Cheney above all law with EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE???

[Skink]

17. didn't Bush already say everybody would cooperate..

Even if Ashcroft was still in charge.

[janx]

19. Drudge is getting some of his info. from this Time article:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1124343,00.html

But the article doesn't mention anything about Cheney testifying (unless I missed it).

[madrchsod]

20. it`s sunday night sludge fest!

look what sludge posted! he`s developing more bullshit to post tonight!

[Pepper32]

21. If this is true

I'm betting Fitz will win this one way or another.

They have finally met their match. IMO

[janx]

24. Without a doubt!

;-)

[madrchsod]

22. shit i didn`t read all of the article

well i will change my opinion now..why? because it comes from-----
----------"the well placed source"---------- well that certainly makes the story the truth!

[AnnInLa]

23. If you want to go to the Sludge website without giving him a hit

just type into your browser

www.drudgereport.com.nyud.net:8090

works for all the other sites you want to spy on, but don't want your hit to be counted....your hit just accesses the cache of that site

Remember all the talk a few weeks back about Cheney possibly running for Pres in 2008? LOL