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FBI: Dick Cheney Failed to Recollect Information on 72 Occasions in Plame Investigation

225px-richard_cheney_2005_official_portraitFormer Vice President Dick Cheney found himself in the same position of not only his aide Scooter Libby but countless criminal defendants. He simply could not remember a thing about his involvement in the leaks involving Valerie Plame. Indeed, he had little recollection of his own actions on 72 occasions — even after shown material with his own writing.

The recently released documents only reinforce the view of some of us that federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was far from the “junk yard dog” that he was portrayed to be in the media. I have been quite critical of the Fitzgerald investigation which seemed to me conspicuously restrained vis-a-vis high-ranking officials like Karl Rove and Cheney. I never understood why Fitzgerald treated Cheney as such a protected figure and gave people like Rove endless opportunities to get his sworn statements right before the grand jury. Fitzgerald said at the time that “there is a cloud over the vice president,” but he still declined to further investigate Cheney or seek an indictment — while going after Libby for what would appear a weaker case of claimed faulty memory.

Libby indicated that it was Cheney who told him Plame’s identity. Fitzgerald seemed to go out of his way to give Cheney every opportunity of escape, including allowing the sharing of investigative material.
Fitzgerald never focused on Cheney even after his lawyer Terrence O’Donnell refused to promise that Cheney would not speak to other witnesses.

150px-Scooter_Libby While Libby remembered going to Cheney with his notes showing Cheney to be the source of the Plame information, Cheney told the investigatior that he could not “recall Scooter Libby telling him how he first heard of Valerie Wilson. It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson’s employment from the vice president … but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation.”

Cheney refused to even answer some questions outright.

On other questions, clarity seemed to break through the confusion. While claiming little recollection on major points, Cheney appears to have had an excellent memory on such issues as such politically sensitive questions as whether Plame’s employment was discussed in connection to her husband Joe Wilson’s criticism of the Administration.

The Justice Department has prosecuted witnesses for such telling gaps in memory. With Cheney, Fitzgerald seemed intent on leaving him as a conveniently absent-minded witness while moving against his top aide.

For the FBI summary, click here.

For the full story, click here.

33 thoughts on “FBI: Dick Cheney Failed to Recollect Information on 72 Occasions in Plame Investigation”

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  3. BIL–

    I’m voting for Bernie Sanders of Vermont in the next presidential election. I’m just going to write in his name on my ballot.

  5. Kucinich/Anyone Not A Neocon or Bought Off by Big Insurance/Pharma in 2012

  6. FF LEO–

    Jeremy Scahill is another journalist I follow–and trust to speak the truth. Just got a link to the following BBC article from one of his “tweets.”

    CIA agents guilty of Italy kidnap

    An Italian judge has convicted 23 CIA agents and two Italian secret agents of the kidnap of a Muslim cleric in 2003.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8343123.stm

    ***************

    Mike,

    Here’s a link to a NYT blog post titled NBC Fights to Keep Kucinich Out of Debate

    http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/nbc-appeals-ruling-on-adding-kucinich-to-debate/?hp

  7. “When we do vote, we select rigid ideologues who champion biased, self-serving ideologies instead of voting for fair-minded legislators/lawmakers, executives, and judges who want what is best for all citizens within our society.”

    “And isn’t it a fact that certain members of the mainstream media often do their best to marginalize some of these fair-minded folks and have even excluded them from some of the presidential debates?”

    FFLEO and Elaine,
    Bingo. These are two important elements in the problems the country faces. FFLEO calls himself a conservative and I call myself a liberal, but the doctrinaire, party line approach only causes chaos. Whhichever party is in power. I think the problem though is that in order to get elected to any office one must be ego centric to begin with. The old example of Cincinnatus, taking power, saving his country and returning to farming is probably mythology, or if it isn’t a highly unuasual occurence.

    Elaine, your point that the MSM frame the debate and exclude people with points to be made that are outside the establishment’s realm of “common sense” is a good one. Look at how Alan Grayson has been treated by the MSM for stating truths that the MSM won’t mention.

  8. Elaine M.

    Mr. Greenwald’s columns are daily must-reads. Comments to his topics are also a good read and Glenn often replies to some of the commenters’ questions.

  11. While we’re on the subject of Dick “We’re Going to the Dark Side” Cheney–did anyone read Glenn Greenwald’s article at Salon today (11/03/2009)?

    A Court Decision That Reflects What Type of Country the U. S. Is

    “It’s not often that an appellate court decision reflects so vividly what a country has become, but such is the case with yesterday’s ruling by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Arar v. Ashcroft (.pdf).”

    Here’s the link to the full article:

    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glen_greenwald/2009/11/03/arar/index.html

    I remember first reading about Maher Arar in Jane Mayer’s book The Dark Side.

    ********************

    FF LEO

    “When we do vote, we select rigid ideologues who champion biased, self-serving ideologies instead of voting for fair-minded legislators/lawmakers, executives, and judges who want what is best for all citizens within our society.”

    And isn’t it a fact that certain members of the mainstream media often do their best to marginalize some of these fair-minded folks and have even excluded them from some of the presidential debates?

  12. I know that the pirates on Wall Street, Cheney, and Obama, think they are individually “special” and that the lessons of history don’t apply and won’t tarnish their unique, well-polished, public halos which is why I laughed out loud in agreement with this earlier post:

    “Buddha Is Laughing

    FFLEO,
    I submit that elitist system worked in France too. Until it didn’t.”

  13. “I don’t understand why Fitzgerald didn’t waterboard Cheney for information.”

    Elaine,
    I think the answer on Fitzgerald is in now and he was put in there to limit damage, which he did. He was after all appointed by Republicans.

    “The most likely outcome for those attempting idealistic reform within the “system” is forced ‘early’ retirement or job loss;”

    FFLEO,
    I know where you’re coming from, been there and had that done to me. That was why I retired at 55, I was pushed.

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