Waxman Closing in on Cheney/Bush Role in Outing Plame-wants transcript of FBI/Cheney interview

[kpete]

Waxman Closing in on Cheney's Role in Outing Plame
by emptywheel
Tue Jun 03, 2008 at 08:24:19 AM PDT

Henry Waxman...noticed that Scottie McC's book sure came close to saying Dick Cheney and George Bush were personally involved in the outing of Valerie Wilson.

New revelations by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan raise additional questions about the actions of the President and the Vice President. Mr. McClellan has stated that "he President and Vice President directed me to go out there and exonerate Scooter Libby." He has also asserted that "the top White House officials who knew the truth - including Rove, Libby, and possibly Vice President Cheney - allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie." It would be a major breach of trust if the Vice President personally directed Mr. McClellan to mislead the public.

Waxman demands that Mukasey turn over the Bush and Cheney interview transcripts that will let us learn what role they had in outing Valerie Wilson.

On December 3, 2007, I wrote to request that you arrange for the production of documents relating to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the leak of the covert identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson, including copies of FBI interview reports of White House officials. I appreciate that you have since made redacted versions of the interview reports of Karl Rove, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and other senior White House officials available to the Committee.

I am writing now to renew the Committee’s request for the interview reports with President Bush and Vice President Cheney and to request unredacted versions of the interviews with Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Condoleezza Rice, Scott McClellan, and Cathie Martin. I also request that the Department provide all other responsive documents that were approved for release to the Committee by Mr. Fitzgerald.

And in the remainder of Waxman's letter, he makes it clear that doing anything less than turning this information over to Waxman's committee is a deliberate attempt to cover up the fact that Dick Cheney outed Valerie Plame, with Bush's involvement.

In his interview with the FBI, Mr. Libby stated that it was "possible" that Vice President Cheney instructed him to disseminate information about Ambassador Wilson's wife to the press. This is a significant revelation and, if true, a serious matter. It cannot be responsibly investigated without access to the Vice President's FBI interview.

The interviews with senior White House officials also raise other questions about the involvement of the Vice President. It appears from the interview reports that Vice President Cheney personally may have been the source of the information that Ms. Wilson worked for the CIA. Mr. Libby specifically identified the Vice President as the source of his information about Ms. Wilson. None of the other White House officials could remember how they learned this information.



In his FBI interview, Mr. McClellan told the FBI about discussions he had with the President and the Vice President. These passages, however, were redacted from the copies made available to the Committee. Similar passages were also redacted from other interviews.

There are no sound reasons for you to withhold the interviews with the President and the Vice President from the Committee or to redact passages like Mr. McClellan's discussions with the President and the Vice President. Mr. Fitzgerald's investigation is closed and he has indicated that it would be appropriate to share these records with the Committee. There has been no assertion of executive privilege.

Moreover, withholding these documents would create an unfortunate double standard. During the Clinton Administration, the Committee requested the records of FBI interviews with President Clinton and Vice President Gore in 1997 and 1998 as part of the Committee's campaign finance investigation. These records were turned over to the Committee by the Justice Department without any consultation with the White House.

The Committee is conducting an important investigation to answer questions that Mr. Fitzgerald's criminal inquiry did not address. As I explained at the Committee's hearing last year, the purpose of the Committee's investigation is to examine:

(1) How did such a serious violation of our national security occur? (2) Did the White House take appropriate investigative and disciplinary steps after the breach occurred? And (3) what changes in White House security procedures are necessary to prevent future violations of our national security from occurring?

The information that you are withholding may hold answers to these questions. The FBI interview reports that you have shared with the Committee raise the possibility that Vice President Cheney may be implicated in the release of Ms. Wilson's identity. Mr. McClellan's recent disclosures indicate that both President Bush and Vice President Cheney played a role in directing the White House response. The Committee cannot complete its inquiry into these matters without receiving the reports of their FBI interviews.

Does anyone think that I've been crazy anymore, for arguing for the last two years that Dick Cheney ordered Scooter Libby to out Valerie Wilson? Because it sure seems like even Libby cedes that argument. And it sure seems like Waxman is intent to find out--or expose Mukasey for covering up the involvement of Bush and Cheney.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/3/111955/6405/753/528081

[rashotte]

1. agreed!! 100%

I smelled a cover up as soon as this info came to light..not that i ever trusted bushy and CO to begin with but...

[lovuian]

2. thank you Waxman the transcript is freakin there where he

out right LIED and where is Fitz in all this

[riderinthestorm]

6. Fitz's investigations were marked by obfuscation and deliberate deceptions

He bluntly said that it's up to Congress at this point to take the next steps in discovering the truth.

Furthermore, Fitz hasn't closed his investigation at all. So if Congress can dig up more dirt, it's entirely possible the Plame case will re-ignite.

[tridim]

7. I'm beginning to believe Fitz isn't the hero we thought he was.

I'm not going to say he's in bed with BushCo, yet, but his silence is very strange.

[chill_wind]

9. I very much agree re: Fitzgerald. John Dean's letter opened my eyes. Very damning.

Here is just a SMALL part of what he wrote in 2005:

"With all due respect, Mr. Fitzgerald, I believe you are being had. I believe that you were selected with the expectation that you would conduct the narrowest of investigations, and it seems you have done just that."

By JOHN W. DEAN
Friday, Nov. 18, 2005





November 18, 2005

The Honorable Patrick J. Fitzgerald
Special Counsel
Bond Federal Building
1400 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Special Counsel Fitzgerald:

Excuse my being so presumptuous as to send you this open letter, but the latest revelation of the testimony, before the grand jury, by Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward has raised some fundamental questions for me

(see text}


In light of your broad powers, the limits and narrow focus of your investigation are surprising. On October 28 of this year, your office released a press statement in which you stated that "A major focus of the grand jury investigation was to determine which government officials had disclosed to the media prior to July 14, 2003, information concerning Valerie Wilson's CIA affiliation, and the nature, timing, extent, and purpose of such disclosures, as well as whether any official made such a disclosure knowing that Valerie Wilson's employment by the CIA was classified information."

If, indeed, that is the major focus of your investigation, then your investigation is strikingly limited, given your plenary powers. To be a bit more blunt, in historical context, it is certainly less vigorous an investigation than those of your predecessors who have served as special counsel -- men appointed to undertake sensitive high-level investigations when the Attorney General of the United States had a conflict of interest. (Here, it was, of course, the conflict of Attorney General John Ashcroft that led to the chain of events that resulted in your appointment.)

(...)

With all due respect, Mr. Fitzgerald, I believe you are being had. I believe that you were selected with the expectation that you would conduct the narrowest of investigations, and it seems you have done just that.

The leak of Valerie Wilson's status did not occur in a vacuum. Republicans in Congress do not want to know what truly happened. You are the last, best hope of the American people in this regard.

I can tell you, as someone who travels about the country, that Americans -- regardless of their political disposition -- are deeply troubled by this case. And, increasingly so, by the limits you have apparently placed on your investigation.

(...)

whole thing here:

http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/dean/20051118.html

[electropop]

3. We need to stay on top of this and the other crimes.

Once Bush is out of office, much of his protection is stripped and he will be subject to prosecution - if done right, it could years and years of trials, a constant reminder of why Republicans are dangerous to AMerica.

[Old and In the Way]

4. I'm beginning to think that's the best route to go.

Why let Bush pardon these criminals going out the door? Better to start real investigations with real convictions in 2009.

[electropop]

5. Maybe there's really a strategy behind "keeping the powder dry" and "off the table?"

We can only hope.

[chill_wind]

8. Have ALWAYS agreed

and have had great regard for Waxman throughout this admin. He's been a very patient and diligently attentive man.

[chill_wind]

10. The wheels of justice grind EXCEEDINGLY slow: Here is the December 18 letter

he wrote, when he got nothing, as par, for the Dec 3 one.

http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20071218104132.pdf