Dick Cheney’s Lawyer Spiked the Phone-Jamming Case (Emptywheel)

[kpete]

Dick Cheney’s Lawyer Spikes the Phone-Jamming Case
By: emptywheel Thursday December 20, 2007 10:04 am

McClatchy has a long story out detailing how indictments for the New Hampshire phone-jamming case got stalled.

(Read it here, plus timeline)
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2007/12/20/dick-cheneys-lawyer-spikes-the-phone-jamming-case/

I'll come back to the timing later. But what I noticed immediately is the name of the lawyer who successfully convinced the DOJ to hold off on the indictment: Terry O'Donnell.

The official said that Terry O'Donnell, a former Pentagon general counsel who was representing Tobin, was in contact with senior department officials before Tobin was indicted.



On Oct. 1, 2004, Hinnen got the green light to prepare an indictment, but was directed to first give Tobin lawyer O'Donnell a chance to make his client's case. O'Donnell requested delays and then told Hinnen, Parsky and other senior officials that an unidentified lawyer had advised Tobin that the jamming was legal.

Now, that Terry O'Donnell is the same Terry O'Donnell who is Dick Cheney's long-time personal attorney--the guy who got calls when evidence directly incriminating Dick in the Plame outing showed up. Curiously, O'Donnell doesn't show up on the docket for Tobin's eventual trial (though Tobin was represented by a bunch of lawyers from Williams and Connelly, O'Donnell's firm).

Does it strike anyone as odd that the regional chair for Bush-Cheney's re-election campaign would have Dick Cheney's lawyer calling around DOJ to postpone his indictment until after the election?

much more at:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2007/12/20/dick-cheneys-lawyer-spikes-the-phone-jamming-case/