Did "Fitz" go Easy on Cheney?

[KoKo]

David Schuster's report on Hardball just now reported that Prosecutors that he's talked to have said that if they had been in charge of the investigation they would have PUT CHENEY UNDER OATH and he probably would have been NAMED as an Unindicted CO-Conspirator.

Schuster also said that he had been told by sources that "Fitz" probably didn't put Cheney under oath because he's "Conservative."

Interesting. Is this spin...or is there any truth to what Schuster was told. I can see a strategy where "Fitz" knew the Repugs would go after him if he put Cheney under oath and it would become a Media Circus with Bushies running the show. I can see that Fitz not putting Cheney under oath was masterful..because the "evidence" is mounting that Cheney WAS totally involved and letting Cheney off early might lead to "bigger things" than "unindicted co-conspirator" down the road. I don't know who Schusters Prosecution sources are...but I do know that Matthews has "Kate O'Biern" coming up on a panel and her husband John was just mentioned in the Waxman hearings for bringing those "Heritage Foundation" kids into Iraq and paying them $100,000 to do things like set up an Iraqi Stock Market. And Kate is a Fellow at the Heritage Foundation and is probably the one who hired the kids and paid them with OUR TAX DOLLARS. So, maybe Heritage Prosecutors are Schuster's source. (BTW..I like Schuster but he works for "DA MAN.")

:shrug:

[ray of light]

1. could be something else called EVIDENCE.

[Cleita]

2. Did you hear Lawrence O'Donnell on Al Franken this morning?

He says his family is all lawyers and when someone doesn't want to testify whether under oath or taking the fifth, they know that they are guilty. It's going to be up to Fitz to try to pry the information out, maybe from other witnesses.

[goforit]

3. "Da Man" being cheney/bush? I've always kept one eye open. You have to.

I will be very disappointed if Cheney gets off.

[lovuian]

6. Me too Who is in the secret indictment

and it looks like Fitzgerald is waiting for Scooter to call his boss in

[Dems Will Win]

20. Let's not forget, Cheney implicated himself AND Bush in this handwritten note!

Cheney crossed out "This Pres." and rewrote the sentence. But clearly shows knowledge of a deliberate act.

Walton had Addington READ THE MEMO ALOUD. They are establishing a quiet case on Cheney and Bush. Then they will spring it on them and avoid in the process years of media circus.

Don;t forget Cheney AND Bush lawyered up in June 2004...

[Crabby Appleton]

4. You can't be CHARGED as an unindicted co-conspirator

you can be named as one.

[KoKo]

5. sorry....I'll edit the post... thanks. n/t

[blogslut]

7. I thought Darth Cheney testified

...to the grand jury with his lawyer? Is that what you're talking about? Cheney's grand jury testimony?

[KoKo]

8. Yes...BUT, Fitz didn't put him "Under Oath." n/t

[MoonRiver]

11. And THAT'S the problem.

WTF was Fitz thinking???????
:argh:

[Missy Vixen]

22. It's a crime to lie to a federal prosecutor during questioning, under oath or not

Let the man do his job.

Julie

[H2O Man]

12. It makes absolutely no

difference. Note that Libby faces the exact same consequences for lying to investigators when not under oath, and for lying to the grand jury while under oath. It is not an issue.

[KoKo]

15. That's my thinking that Cheney not being put "under oath" was good plucking

when Fitz knew he had enough down the road to prove Libby lied and that it went TO THE TOP. By not forcing Cheney to testify "under oath" he allowed Cheney to think he was being given "special treatment" by a "conservative" (Schuster's sources description/NOT mine) and that collecting the evidence from the "ground up" would eventually pull Cheney in where he would HAVE TO BE UNDER OATH.

It kind of goes along with what all us Plameologists have been thinking about Fitz. He works from the Outside/Inward. Allowing Cheney to be treated with "white gloves" in the beginning...has set Cheney up for Prosecution Afterwards.

The VELVET GLOVE...which Fitz seems to be famous for. Or...perhaps it's just the old basic "Cat & Mouse Game." Whatever....

I think it's a great Legal Game...and watching it unfold is fascinating for the "Twists & Turns" and the places it takes us.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

17. Didn't they get Martha Stewart on lying to a Fed Investigator? I don't think she was u

under oath when she supposedly dtd.

[H2O Man]

18. Correct. n/t

[blogslut]

13. Are you sure about that?

Are you confusing that with when Cheney and Bush testified together for the 9/11 panel?

Unless I'm wrong, I know Bush testified before the grand jury on the Libby case with his personal lawyer. I'm pretty sure Cheney did too. I am almost positive that would have been an under oath situation for either man.

EDIT: looked it up:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/06/02/politics/main620810.shtml

"It is not clear when or where Mr. Cheney was interviewed," the Times continued, "but he was not questioned under oath and he has not been asked to appear before the grand jury, people officially informed about the case said. His willingness to answer questions was voluntary and apparently followed Mr. Bush's repeated instructions to aides to cooperate with the investigation."

On Friday, a Cheney spokesman declined to comment to the Times on the case. The spokesman, Kevin Kellems, referred questions about the vice president to Fitzgerald, whose office has declined to comment on the investigation. A call by the newspaper to Terrence O'Donnell, the vice president's private lawyer, was not returned.

Mr. Bush has acknowledged that he had met with a Washington criminal lawyer, Jim Sharp, about the possibility that prosecutors might want to interview him about the case. So far, the White House has made no mention of Cheney's interview or whether it influenced the president's decision to meet with Sharp, the Times notes.

Mr. Bush is not thought to be a focus of the grand jury inquiry, the Times says. On Thursday, Mr. Bush said he did not object to the prosecutors' inquiry.

The decision by Mr. Bush and Cheney to seek private legal counsel is routine for high-level officials when they become involved, even tangentially, in legal issues unrelated to their official duties, the Times observed."

So maybe Darth didn't testify, under oath, before a grand jury, per se. The point others are trying to make is that if you lie to a Federal investigator, your ass is still grass. :)

[leftofthedial]

9. he has gone easy on the whole neocon cabal

this is a scapegoating, whitewashing exercise, not the execution of justice.

[leveymg]

10. This is TOTAL BS - Matters not whether Cheney was under oath - still faces Obstruction charge

if Veep lied, omitted, or made misleading statements to Fitz.

OOJ and Perjury differ not at all. Both will get you ten years.

Schuster has made some serious errors in his reporting of this trial.

[KoKo]

16. Huh? leveymg...did you read my post...I don't understand what you are saying?

:shrug:

[leveymg]

25. Not saying you're full of it - it's Schuster

He got this totally wrong, for the reasons explained in my comments. I can't believe he's repeating this unsworn BS. This follows his story in the first day of testimony in which he wrote that Scooter had destroyed Cheney's hand-written instructions on how to deal with Cooper. According to Marcy Wheeler, no such thing happened. Scooter took his own notes of what Cheney had said aboard AF-2.

[H2O Man]

26. Interesting.

MSNBC had two reports on that. In the first ("Prosecutor: Libby destroyed Cheney memo"), it states, "Fitzgerald alleged that Libby in September 2003 'destroyed' a Cheney note just before Libby's first FBI interview ..."

In the update, an hour and 18 minutes later ("Prosecutor: Libby 'wiped out' Cheny memo"), it read, "Fitzgerald alleged that Libby in September 2003 'wiped out' a Cheney note .... It was not clear if Fitzgerald meant that the note was destroyed or that Libby had forgotten it."

From FDL, about a half an hour before the first MSNBC report: "VP notes -- Libby knew the note was in his file. But he wiped it out."

[Me.]

27. Wiped It Out

Sounds to me like it was deleted. Which becomes interesting if that is one of the emails Rove led Fitzgerald to.

[leveymg]

28. No, Marcy says that Fitz has that memo -

it's the notes that Libby wrote to himself with Cheney's verbal instructions about how to handle his conversation with Cooper the next day. Apparently, Scooter was kepping a CYA file.

Frankly, I wonder whose CYA he was trying to cover - his own or Cheney's, or both? How do we know that it accurately records Cheney's instructions? I also wonder when Libby actually wrote that note - was it 7/11 or later?

Anyone seen that doc introduced into evidence?

[Hawkowl]

14. Doesn't matter

If you lie under oath it's perjury. If you lie to a D.A. in a grand jury investigation it's obstruction of justice. I think Fitz knew he wasn't going to get the truth out of Cheney, but thought he might get more out of him being not under oath. I also think that Fitz fully intends to at least bring down Cheney if not Bush as well. If he follows his Illinois model he is going to take a wrecking ball to the national Rethuglican Party.

[Me.]

19. A Lot Of Second Guessing Going On

I think Fitzgerald has known what he's about all the way along, and he knew the obstacles he was facing. He told us so when he spoke of sand being kicked in the face of the umpire. He also asked congress to hold off any investigations until he was finished. I think he has been masterful in what he had gotten into the trial, and the info he has brought out. He may not bring any more indictments (though I don't close the door on that as there have been some tantalizing bits thrown out) but he has left a trail of breadcrumbs that even a fool could follow and congress better get on it as soon as he's done.

[Miss Chybil]

21. If you are under oath and you cross your fingers behind your back,

does it still count? :evilgrin:

[Morgana LaFey]

23. A comment re "conservative"

Just in case anyone is interpreting that as "politically conservative," I read it as the more common usage of conservative, as in risk-averse, or not some wild and crazy prosecutor kinda guy. Very, very careful.

[PhilipShore]

24. Yes

[Jack Rabbit]

29. I think you nailed it, KoKo

Fitz not putting Cheney under oath was masterful..because the "evidence" is mounting that Cheney WAS totally involved and letting Cheney off early might lead to "bigger things" than "unindicted co-conspirator" down the road.

One of those "bigger things" might be an impeachment referral to the House Judiciary Committee.

[BuyingThyme]

30. Of course.

[Catherine Vincent]

31. The Fitz always thinks ahead.

:)