Remarkably, the Special Counsel acquiesced in the postponement although on May 4, 2006, Vice President Cheney and his people were given permission to see and hear everything relative to the CIA leak investigation, and this permission was indicated to Fitzgerald via the Justice Department. At every juncture of the CIA leak investigation from at least May 4, 2006, onward, in other words—as Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse revealed to the public—Cheney had official free rein to be informed of anything transpiring.
[I HAVE A FACSIMILE OF THE ONE-PAGE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT AUTHORIZING THIS ACCESS FOR THE OVP AND OTHER PERSONNEL. UNDOUBTEDLY SEN. WHITEHOUSE AND THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE ALSO POSSESS IT IF NEEDED.]
This was the investigation praised, at least in the center-left part of the political spectrum, as independent.
The contrast to the Blagojevich matter is striking. The Libby case involved extensive professional courtesy and frequent delays at the request of high-priced and well-funded counsel. No showing up at the alleged perp’s doorstep, no unannounced invasion of his home space, no FBI chat about him at press conferences, no leaks from sources ‘close to the investigation’, nobody wearing a wire, no traced telephone calls, no electronic surveillance. Libby’s wife was not humiliated; no personal or informal conversations, secretly taped, were aired for public ridicule with as much animus and meanness as possible. Nobody said that even the ‘most cynical’ personnel in some federal agency were ‘shocked’ by Libby’s actions. Instead the investigation ground on, in its sedate white-collar way--while all the governmental policies upheld by Libby’s office continued. Libby had ample time to round up highly placed supporters, who financed his large team of defense attorneys--with open consent and encouragement at the highest levels of the Bush administration up to and including the White House.
In the Blagojevich matter, on the other hand--well, exactly where does the public, as represented by its federal law enforcement officials, stand?
There was, as mentioned, no indictment, and the prosecutor has since asked for and received a three-month extension to bring one.
The Dec. 9, 2008, charging document in the arrest of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and John Harris contains two counts. The first count is a broad statement about “honest services,” based on material gathered 2002-2004 and on the wiretaps of fall 2008. It skips years 2005-2007:
(a) ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS, and others have conspired with each other and with others to commit offenses against the United States, namely to devise and participate in a scheme to defraud the State of Illinois and the people of the State of Illinois of the honest services of ROD BLAGOJEVICH and JOHN HARRIS . . .
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