10 Accidental Celebrities

New docs show former veep thought ill of Plame husband's Nigeria trip

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney's memory may have been a little iffy about the Valerie Plame leak, but Politico reports that the former veep left no room for doubt about his opinion of her husband's trip to Niger to investigate an Iraqi purchase of plutonium. "It was amateur hour out at the CIA," Cheney told a federal prosecutor in a 2004 interview released Friday. More»

VP comes up blank on specifics in newly released interview

(NEWSER) - After years of effort by the Bush and Obama administrations to keep documents related to the CIA leak case secret, redacted portions of the special prosecutor’s 2004 interview with Dick Cheney released today show plenty of nothing. The then-VP apparently suffered acute memory loss: Cheney told Patrick Fitzgerald he couldn't recall when he learned Valerie Plame was a CIA agent, or telling chief of staff Scooter Libby about it, or telling Libby to leak the info to reporters. More»

But government can redact certain portions

(NEWSER) - A federal judge has ordered the FBI to release most of the interview it conducted with Dick Cheney over the Valerie Plame case, in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. Both the Bush and Obama administrations have tried to keep the record of the 2004 sit-down sealed, arguing that it would dissuade future presidents and vice presidents from cooperating with law enforcement. More»

(NEWSER) - Dick Cheney pursued a pardon for former aide Scooter Libby so doggedly in his final days in office that he pushed the bounds of his 9-year relationship with George Bush, reports Time. It wasn't so much a political issue as a moral "crusade" for Cheney, write Massimo Calabresi and Michael Weisskopf. He implored Bush not to leave "anyone on the battlefield" and said anything less than a full pardon would tarnish their legacy in the war on terror. "Cheney really got in the president's face," says one source. "He just wouldn't give it up." More»

Obama DoJ renews Bush-era objections to releasing details

(NEWSER) - The Obama Justice Department is continuing its efforts to maintain the Bush administration's secrecy over Dick Cheney's role in the Valerie Plame CIA leak scandal, the Washington Post reports. A filing this week, intended to bolster the current administration’s case for keeping secret details of the then-VP’s 2004 interview with special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, lists seven discussions Cheney recounted that were directly or indirectly related to Plame. More»