A Fresh Focus On Cheney in Plame Case: Isikoff/Newsweek

[kpete]

Damning.
From Isikoff ...

A Fresh Focus on Cheney
Hand-written notes by the Vice President surface in the Fitzgerald Probe

Web Exclusive
By Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
Updated: 4:14 p.m. ET May 13, 2006

May 13, 2006 - The role of Vice President Dick Cheney in the criminal case stemming from the outing of White House critic Joseph Wilson's CIA wife is likely to get fresh attention as a result of newly disclosed notes showing that Cheney personally asked whether Wilson had been sent by his wife on a "junket" to Africa.

Cheney's notes, written on the margins of a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed column by former ambassador Joseph Wilson, were included as part of a filing Friday night by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in the perjury and obstruction case against ex-Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The notes, Fitzgerald said in his filing, show that Cheney and Libby were "acutely focused" on the Wilson column and on rebutting his criticisms of the White House's handling of pre-Iraq war intelligence. In the column, which created a firestorm after its publication, Wilson wrote that he had been dispatched by the CIA without pay to Niger in February, 2002 to investigate an intelligence report that Iraq was seeking uranium from the African country for a nuclear bomb. Wilson said he was told Cheney had asked about the intelligence,but the White House subsequently ignored his findings debunking the Niger claims.


RELATED DOCUMENT
Read the Fitzgerald Filing on Cheney Notes

In the margins of the op-ed, Cheney jotted out a series of questions that seemed to challenge many of Wilson's assertions as well as the legitimacy of his CIA sponsored trip to Africa: "Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an Amb. to answer a question? Do we ordinarily send people out pro bono to work for us? Or did his wife send him on a junket?"


more at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12774274/site/newsweek/
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/008454.php

[crappyjazz]

1. So is the "Official A+"?

I don't know if that Fitz blog is legit, but I read it anyway. Thanks for the news!

[KingFlorez]

2. Rut Roh

This thread will be to a 100 posts in no time

[democrank]

3. I`d give ANYTHING to see

Cheney get what`s coming to him.

[TerdlowSmedley]

7. I don't think the FCC would allow them to televise the Vice President of

the United States getting buggered with a hot poker while being flayed alive.

[electropop]

12. Sure they will,

as long as they blur out his nipples.

[C_U_L8R]

16. That fat drippings

would make too much smoke....

but the sound fx alone would be well worth it

[babylonsister]

4. Thank you, kpete, for digging! Most excellent! K&R! nt

[Me.]

5. Since When Is Pro Bono Work

a junket?

*shadow government*

[Pithy Cherub]

9. That is exactly Fitz's point.

Was Cheney writing the talking points down and givng them to his assorted minions to take to the media whores for dictation? Fitz is going to make Cheney defend himself and come out from behind is firewall. Fitz needs a bit more time on Cheney and Cheney is gearing up to know he's going toe to toe with the guy that took down two(publically) of the administration's bad asses.;)

:popcorn: oh, this is gettin' good!

[lolly]

21. A real junket, that

You know, when I get a super-cushy job with connections, I know I'm gonna ask my boss to send me on a "junket" to Nigeria--can you think of a more fabulous place to spend a few weeks? To hell with the Riviera, Cancun, Switzerland--I wanna go to Nigeria!

[eleny]

6. Thanks!

K&R

[fooj]

8. Excuse me while I do my "HAPPY DANCE"

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

This has really shaped up to be a FANTASTIC weekend!

[Buns_of_Fire]

10. No offense to the good people of Niger, but how is such a trip

considered a "junket?" There are no twelve-star hotels there, as Emperor Chucklenuts tne Unitary and Prime Minister Ironheart require. This trip is FAR BENEATH their royal standards for a "junket."

(Edit: Geez, you'd think I could spell "Emperor Chucklenuts the Unitary" by now...)

[Disturbed]

13. Cheney asked the CIA to look into the Yellowcake situation.

He wanted confirmation. When he didn't get what he was after he ordered his attack dogs to kill Joe Wilson's reputation,V. Plame's job and her covert Op Brewster Jennings. I call that Treason! Cheney needs to be charged with Treason!

[Buns_of_Fire]

35. True. My "WTF?" moment was about the term "junket."

Like lolly said in post 21 above (better than I), I can think of nicer places to be sent on a "junket." My understanding of the term is a trip, paid for by the taxpayers, which is more a vacation for the chosen "leaders" than any real "fact-finding." Like sending an entire subcommittee to Hawaii to check out the pineapple-growing situation (which has actually been done, if I remember correctly).

Not that I'm completely against junkets. I have no problem with sending Ironheart to Basra for a short speech, followed by a week or so of quail hunting in the vicinity. Or, since Chucklenuts is so fond of clearing brush, there's probably lots of it just outside the Green Zone. :-)

[shaniqua6392]

36. Why is there never any mention of Brewster Jennings

in the media? We have all known about this for quite a while. I can not wait for the day when we hear that story in the main stream media.

[hwmnbn]

11. This paragraph is the eye popper ......

It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented, for Cheney's own notes to be made public. The notes—apparently obtained as a result of a grand jury subpoena—would appear to make Cheney an even more central witness than had been previously thought in the criminal probe.

As secret as this mofo is, this must've killed him to give these notes up. Maybe that's why he's been so sleepy lately. He just wants to escape to somewhere peaceful and quiet. tsk tsk



Mr. Cheney, go fuck yourself! :evilgrin:

[speedoo]

15. I think someone other than Cheney gave them up.

Could have been Libby, Rove or Hadley, for example. In other words, someone trying to save their ass. Hadley or Rove are most likely. Or maybe someone at the CIA, determined to avenge the Plame outing.

[me b zola]

14. Isikoff must smell blood in the water

...at least I hope he does :evilgrin:

[BurtWorm]

17. He might be smelling the NYT breathing down his neck

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1180793

[madrchsod]

18. is karl going to roll over?

well i guess my observation about cheney is right. he is going to resign for more than one "health" reason

[stevedeshazer]

19. Scooter and Shooter are GOING TO PRISON

:wow:

[pokercat999]

32. The pResident will pardon all before they are sentenced or

maybe before they are even tried. His excuse will be national security and the public airing of "secrets" a trial would involve. At less than 30% approval rating he has nothing to lose. After the mid-terms he's toast anyway and if he doesn't understand that, I'm sure KKKarl will explain.

[Freeusfromthechurch]

34. or launch a tactical nuke on Iran

to redirect the media's attention. It's a scary thought, but I wouldn't put anything past them with polls dropping, Rove, NSA, now Cheney. It's all about to implode on them, so they might decide to go out with a bang to usher in the end of the world for his base. I can here them now, "I told you the end was here, Wait a minute, why are we not floating up into the sky."

I so pray to the idol on my mantle I'm wrong.

[Jackpine Radical]

37. "Scooter & Shooter!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

39. Scooter and shooter sitting in a cell/Hope they rot and go to hell!

nm

[Exultant Democracy]

20. Health Reasons! Health Reasons! Heath Reasons! n/t

[OKNancy]

22. Kick

[stevenleser]

23. My Op-Ed on the subject

http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_steven_l_060513_dick_cheney__96_cia_le.htm

[Jackpine Radical]

38. A good piece. Thanx.

[stevenleser]

24. Like I said on the Rove thread, for a laugh, see Freeper denial

on this---> http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1631853/posts

[worldgonekrazy]

25. A shot across the bow?

Was this really necessary for Fitzgerald's case against Libby? Or was the purpose of including this info in court filings to send a message? Perhaps that nobody is safe in this business. Oh that would be nice.

[Sparkly]

26. AP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060514/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_case

[nicknameless]

27. This story even made it to yahoo.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060513/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_case;_ylt=ApOG.sABmKxMLQ.5ksZGsKWs0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3OXIzMDMzBHNlYwM3MDM-

and CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/05/13/cia.leak/index.html

[Roland99]

28. Sunday morning talk shows should be animated

Well, except for ABC with Biden.

[nicknameless]

31. That Biden, so courageous, always going out on a limb...

:sarcasm: :boring:

[robbedvoter]

29. T-A-L-K-I-N-G P-O-I-N-T-S!

They came to us via the stenographers! Author! Author! Jail! Jail!
Weren't the wingnutz screaming "talking points" on something Lewinski related?

[Up2Late]

30. Here's the Reuters story too, and a K&R

CIA leak case court filing focuses on Cheney

Sun May 14, 2006 12:02 AM ET

By Kevin Drawbaugh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. prosecutor in the CIA leak case has told a court he plans to use as evidence a newspaper article with notes that he says were hand-written by Vice President Dick Cheney referring to Valerie Plame shortly before she was exposed as a CIA operative.

The notes show Cheney and his former chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were "acutely focused" on the July 6, 2003, article written by Plame's husband, Bush administration critic and former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, said Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in the pre-trial filing made on Friday.

A Cheney spokeswoman said the matter is a court proceeding and referred a request for comment to Fitzgerald's office. Fitzgerald said the notes show that Cheney and Libby were focused on Wilson and "on the assertions made in his article, and on responding to those assertions."

The article asked whether the administration manipulated intelligence in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.

(more at link)

<http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=12193054&src=rss/topNews>

[upi402]

33. Cheney is watching his back now...