Turley outlines Libby's team putting the squeeze on Cheney
By John Amato Wednesday Jul 04, 2007 6:42pm
Jonathan Turley outlines Libby's defense team strategy of pressuring Cheney to help him out of multiple convictions. Not that Cheney didn't plan to bail out his pal, but they made sure to turn the screws so to speak. Full transcript here...
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Turley: If you ask any criminal defense attorney, they said we would make Dick Cheney the focus of the trial. He is perfect. He’s all over this case. It really was an investigation about what Dick Cheney ordered, what Dick Cheney said, what Dick Cheney did. It’s just that Dick Cheney wasn’t indicted.
So no one was that surprised when the defense team made it clear they were going to call him to the trial and they were going to take the gloves off. And then suddenly, it changed and they said they were not going to call him.
They barely talked about him in any sinister way. And they adopted what could only be described as a passive defense. They virtually walked Libby into a conviction. I don’t mean to be too harsh, but it seemed to me a pretty passive performance.
Well some of us speculated at the time that it seemed to be preserving the chance for a pardon. He was a loyal soldier. He took the hit in court and he remained quiet even after his conviction and even after his sentencing.
Greenwald writes "Lewis Libby owes his freedom to our corrupt political elite."
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He certainly does owe his freedom to the political elite... how about the rest of the U.S. of A.'s citizens? Nope, not for any of them, huh? Just friends of the cabal??
Libby is as a fine example of how the mob works then any other example out there.
As a cappo he stood by his Boss and took the hit for him , political wise and court wise.
Libby is the new john gotti , reinvented via the whitehouse. I know thats got to burn Fizts ass, as it was his team that helped jail gotti after many years of the smear giving the law a one finger salute.
Sooooooo, is Turley saying that Cheney the 'REAL' criminal in this case?
only that Scooter fell on the sword for his lord?
Turley says that Cheney "is all over this case." What are the Democrats going to do about it besides complaining? Will any of their fearless leaders decide to back Kucinich's resolution to impeach Cheney? I wouldn't bet the farm on that happening. The Democrats= all talk and no action.
Chairman Lehey and Chariman Conyers, your tables are ready!
There's nothing new here. I knew this was going to happen before the trial even began!
I don't care who's doing the screw turning but anyone that will apply tough pressure to Cheney (of all people!) is ok in my book. We so think of Cheney being the ultimate turner of screws but not here. Ha, you villain, fiend, wretch! How'd that feel to have that pressure placed on your back?!?! I like it.
Turley nailed it. That was the deal from Day 1 - the fall and silence for commutation.
Time for Nancy to bring her own indictment.
.
It's all thinly veiled smoke and mirrors. Political sleight of hand in plain view. Ugh, it's disgusting...
It's amazing how much evil is packed into those two twisted bastards.
There's no doubt DICK is one of the biggest criminals to grace our Executive branch. But, lets go ahead and have a full set of hearings, investigations, and a trial. Don't take my word.
Hmmm. Sounds like something one might see on the Sopranos or in a Godfather movie.
Turley is right that this case shows how the focus of the investigation was shifted from Cheney and his outing an undercover agent to a staffer who lied to protect his boss. And Fitzgerald has not given any indication he will every reopen the case. So much for the rule of law.
I saw this coming when they didn't get Rove. This was all premeditated on the part of the White House. Don't forget Cheney is a lawyer also.
Scooter would never have lasted a week in jail. His wife was probably threatening to "sing like a canary" to the papers.
I have been around long enough to know that this mob is not going to get away with the crap that they have pulled over the last 6 years. Something is going to happen and they'll be screwed.
Has it hit Patrick Fitzgerald yet that they played him like a cheap kazoo? If he realizes this he must feel like a total douchebag. They totally made a monkey out of him.
BVD @ 15:
You think Fitzgerald didn't understand from the beginning what the final result would be? Of course he did. But he forged ahead and performed the job that the taxpayers pay him to do ... he gave us his best efforts, his honest efforts, in the pursuit of justice. Sure can't say that for the bush administration.
Without Fitzgerald, a lot more people would still be stupidly believing the cover story. We can at least thank Fitzgerald for trying to shed some light on this very dark, very secretive gang of thugs in our White House. And remember, his office never sprang one single solitary leak. Never.
Here are the words that should be repeats. Get those phony to resign. I am afraid of another 1 .5 years with those same psychopath in control will get us in another war!
Bush/Cheney, please resign and let us live without your lies. You have done enough.
http://www.truthout.org:80/docs_2006/070407Y.shtml
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fitz was never going after the big cheese , cheny , it was all for show , a fucking circus for the rubes!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was totally baffling to me at the time that Libby's defense team had such a high reputation, the lead lawyer having been named lawyer of the year the previous year, and yet they seemed so inept and incompetent in their defense of Libby. Jonathan Turley makes me see now that when the defense team said it would call Cheney in to testify, that it was a veiled threat which was answered so they didn't care whether they won or lost. And I will not speculate as to Fitzgerald's performance one way or the other as a couple of people have above in the thread, but in the last couple of days I have thought that Fitzgerald's going for a punishment above what the probation board suggested did open the way up at least inadvertently for Bush to use the feeble excuse that the punishment was too harsh and excessive. I wish Turley were more active in the law than an academic on the sidelines. That man's got character.
Sooner or later someone is going to sing and a pardon will not help and the whole house of cards will come tumbling down. I still say this commutation was unconstitutional. Bush was just trying to save himself from impeachment
Tyree...You are right about Fitzgerald not going after Cheney. Fitzgerald was going where the facts of the investigation would take him as a truly impartial prosecutor is supposed to do. We know Cheney and Bush are behind the whole outing of a covert CIA agent in an attempt to conceal the fact that Bush deliberately lied in the State of the Union Address. However, it has to be proven in the court that Cheney was behind it which is exactly what Libby was preventing by obstructing justice and committing perjury.
say what yah want fitz is a republican and he was just pulling your dickstrings along!
It's obvious that the commutation, and the eventual pardon was a quid pro quo in exchange for the lying. Lying is an administration job requirement. I think Bush lied in the 1st week that the outing of Plame occurred. I think Bush knew exactly what happened, back when it happened. I think this whole spin of the naive Bush being manipulated by the experienced Cheney is a lot of hogwash. Bush fully embraced the PNAC agenda, of which Libby, Cheney, and brother Jeb Bush were members of. And, as we know, PNAC had been advocating the Iraq war for a decade.
I'd bet that sometime last week, one of Irv's buds called somebody on PA Ave. and told him that if a certain little Jewish guy goes away, he spills his guts first. Not a threat. An offer, you understand.
man these people are just bullet proof,,, depressing..
the trial, pretty funny description of what happened. note that all the charges against the prominent folk involved just evaporated. note no one has suffered at all except the people of this country
We call Bush and Cheney idiots, I guess for lack of a better name, but they always seem to come through stuff unindicted. They seem invincible.
All this attention on Libby has lost focus on Gonzo. That guy still needs to go.
Even though Libby paid his fine. That was all paid for by his friends. Next thing is Bush will end up pardoning him later down the road.
It is just insane how they can work the system and even when they are indicted just get a slap on the wrist if even that.
Now Cheney says he's not part of the Executive Branch. I tell you, I have never recalled seeing an administration that that just uses the Constitution as a suggestion.
Week after week they just keep coming up with the sleaziest and creative ways to minipulate the Constitution for their own benefit.
It's like being a compulsive liar or cheater. You just keep coming up with the latest excuse to save your hide.
If this was the Democrats pulling this crap there would be indictments and special prosecuters running around all over the place.
It's difficult to sit back and just watch these jokers continue to get away with murder.
I've written my Congressmen and women and have my Flag outside hanging upside down but other then that I can't do much of anything except to watch these jokers run roughshod over the Constitution.
This was extremely sleezy - and worse, the whole trial seems to have been an exercise in futility. What really bothers me is how much we put our faith into the process, not to mention how hard the bloggers worked to provide us transcripts. We spent endless hours comisserating in forums like this. Even the msm was going hog wild and calling in assorted daily pundits to speculate and bloviate.
The wasted our money and they wasted our time. An when I say "they", I mean Cheney, Bush and the defense team. Their path was going to be golden no matter what. No wonder it was all such a joke to the wingers.
Any politicians who doesn't help us dethrone George and Cheney is a retard. Period. You know why? They put their faith in the system, too. If they want to feel as ripped off as I do, that makes them retarded. They took impeachment off the table and we are worse off now than we were the same time last year.
I am sick and tired of the GOP making us all look like people chasing cars that suddenly stop, and we - the retards - keep running into the bumper. Yes, I am tired of it because we are better than that.
...and I am indeed retarded with my typos. My apologies. Can I get a grammatical re-do (please)?
Ther congress needs to do away completely with "executive privilege" and pardon-power for any president. It is very easily abused and needs to end.
I always thought that the reason that Libby's defense team folded about calling Cheney as a witness was that the Dark Lord made them an offer they couldn't refurse. If it turns out that Libby can in fact be compelled to testify about Cheney in Congressional hearings, by virtue of being immunized, he's a walking dead man. Cheney and Bush will have him killed for sure in order to save their own worthless asses. I expect that Scooter-boyo is going to be "heart-attacked" or "car-accidented" or "massive-stroked" or "gone-missinged" something.
The legacy of this president was ruined when Justice Scalia appointed him as president in 2000. Nothing good has come from this president and history will not be kind. There are too many books published exposing this White House so George W Bush will not have a positive legacy. There has only been one truth from Bush - he claims to be the "uniter". Indeed he his. His visits to Pennsylvania have united the Democrats of this state. He even united Democrats and Republicans in Iowa to back a Democrat (Bill Richardson) for president in 2008.
oldtree @ 27:
That's a good point. Shouldn't the case for outing a covert CIA agent still be open? No one was charged with this crime so I would think that this investigation should continue. But then again, I'm not a lawyer so, just asking.
Paul @ 32:
Libby will probably lose his memory if he has to testify in front of Congress. It's the Ronald Reagan defense.
Libby is what La Cosa Nostra would refer to as a "stand up guy."
Jonathan Turley was correct about the Libby quid pro quo promise of money and freedom for silence. But I disagree about his remarks about Clinton. Mark Rich was not part of a cover-up of a Clinton conspiracy that the pardon would guarantee. Clinton didn't obstruct justice in granting the pardon. But it was a stupid move.
naschkatze @ 20:
Has anyone seen this yet? I was just sent this - http://www.pensitoreview.com/2007/07/04/bush-filed-to-uphold-victor-rita...
Let me expand on this a bit. (I have some expertise in trial strategy.) When Libby's defense team announced that the Veep would be called to testify at trial, it was more than a veiled threat. It was a bold threat. By making the comments public, the defense could expect any number of results, any of which would benefit Scooter. For instance: 1) The White House could raise the specter of "national security" and the trial judge might buy it and dismiss the case. 2) Using the same claim, the Prez might pardon Libby. 3) Cheney might get spooked (after all, the defense virtually announced that Cheney was guilty as hell) and arrange a deal to get Libby a pardon. The ploy worked and Libby got spared from prison. Libby's defense knew he was as guilty as guilty can be, but the stress was gone. It would have been nice to get an acquittal, but it as no longer necessary. Had Libby's lawyers not publicly threatened to put Cheney on the stand, Libby would have had less control of his fate. Assuming a conviction, the deal was going to stink to high heaven eventually, but it would have been even worse had it been cut during the trial itself.
But the WH was not entirely at Libby's mercy. Fred Fielding is no fool. Libby would not serve time, but the deal would not be for an outright pardon. The WH lawyers know that Libby can still be kept in line, at least through the 2008 elections. Everybody knows Libby will lose his appeal, but as long as the appeal continues the WH house can refuse to comment. Further more, should Libby either be called before another grand jury investigating Cheney and given immunity to secure his testimony or gets immunity to testify before Congress and actually tells the truth, he can forget that pardon. That is to say, the commutation pays him for loyalty in the past, the chance of a pardon purchases his loyalty in the future.
These people are snakes. What Libby is essentially saying to the WH now is, "I'm your guy, but don't forget I can still screw you." And the WH says, "Ditto."
I believe you nailed it shut!
The truth behind your entire statement is that the dems are an adjunct to the repugs. right now the repug minority is holding up four or more major pieces of legislation and the dems could have done the same. it just shows that the dems and repugs have the same masters and it's not the voters.
This kind of shit doesn't go over well in China: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/06/world/asia/06cnd-china.html?ex=1341374...
i am a yellowdogdemocrat. except for pres. eisenhower i have never voted for a repuke. so i am probably irelalvent. but this alcoholic shitforbrainssob is the pits. you don't have to be a wet drunk to be one as any aa member will attest. i hold laura as responsible as any one for she knows him better than us.
A passive defense!!??? How bout a broadway production, a spectacle really, of smoke, mirrors, and feints.... There was NEVER going to be any calling of Darth Cheney, there was never going to be any jail time or fines for Scooter, There was NEVER going to be a real price paid by anyone over this besides, Vallery Plame, Joe Wilson, the American public and our overseas intel assets...And dare I say it, the rule of law in this land.
This was a total charade presented by the neocons for the public to consume in place of actual justice.. We've all been played from jump street on this... EVERYONE! Frankly, I'm beyond being sick of getting punked out by these bastards..JD
Why do I have mental images of cheney with his head in an orange juicer?
Who's the babe in the boat?
YS;
I believe I rather like your mental image... Especially if followed up by squeezing said juicer and then spilling the contents into a hefty bag bound for a trashcan fire..........JD
I wonder who'll be around to commute Bush's death sentence when he's finally handed what he deserves?
http://constitutionalmatters.com/thevoice/img/443.jpg
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