Posted on 06/05/2004 11:50:37 AM PDT by cyncooper
WASHINGTON — Investigators questioned Vice President Dick Cheney (search) recently in the probe of who in the Bush administration leaked the name of a covert CIA operative last year, a source familiar with the investigation said Saturday.
The interview of the vice president follows an acknowledgment by President Bush that he has consulted with a private attorney regarding the probe, indicating that Bush, also, expects to be questioned.
A federal grand jury in recent months has questioned numerous White House and administration officials to learn who revealed the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame (search), wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson (search), to the news media.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Cheney was not under oath when he was questioned, according to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation involves a criminal matter. The source did not know what Cheney said or what he was asked or whether he had an attorney present. But the central issue of the investigation is who disclosed Plame's name.
I've stated before that I hope and think the central focus of the investigation is NOT who disclosed Plame's "name" (I think they mean her employer, not *name*), but I could be wrong.
Time will tell.
I'm disappointed with Fox presenting the AP story without reviewing its facts. More from the article:
Wilson had earlier been sent to Niger by the CIA to check out the allegation and concluded it was unfounded. Bush stated subsequently in his State of the Union address that Iraq had sought to buy uranium in Africa.
Point of order:
A sub-group of the CIA, not "the CIA", as in Tenet, sent Wilson on their own volition.
Wilson never filed a written report but gave an oral rendition of his "findings".
Per George Tenet, the findings were useless and unreliable
Further, the trip and the non-findings were NOT briefed to President Bush OR VP Cheney.
As I've stated before, kind of hard for them to be basing speeches on a trip they knew nothing about (and which findings were not as Wilson and sympathetic media portray), and, further, leaking who sent him on mission they were not briefed on.
I can't think of who all is following the Plame Game, but I do recall you being interested.
Look! VP Cheney has talked to the prosecutor.
Remember too .. it was Wilson who claimed he had given Cheney a first hand report after he returned from Niger. Cheney said - it didn't happen.
Yes. It appears Wilson is the credibility impaired party here (as it has from the start).
I wish I knew what the grand jury is asking and what direction they're going in, because the facts on the record do not support Wilson's complaint and I find it unbelievable that the investigation is trundling along according to conventional wisdom in search of who leaked Plame's "name" (a phrasing that drives me nuts. Everybody knew her "name". It's her role at the CIA that is at issue and if it was undercover, a secret and unlawfully disclosed when apparently the Wilsons were not the tighest lipped duo to come down the pike.)
Ping.
As such, her name, and her status in the organization were most probably, common knowledge, not only in Washington D.C., but in every concerned Foreign government on the planet earth.
Check this out.
I thought I'd heard that it was Joe Wilson himself who revealed his wife's name and occupation as a CIA operative in a book or article he wrote.
Thanks.
Do you know anything about Alan Foley? I think he was her boss and he left the agency last September, right around the time Wilson successfully kicked up enough noise to get this investigation revved up.
Bush never said any such thing.
Over and over I see this mistake repeated. And Wilson only "disproved" that a transaction occured, not that Iraq didn't seek the uranium. He was also the one who reported that a Nigerien official told him an Iraqi official made enquiries back in 1999, later identified as Baghdad Bob. bob was in Iraq's foreign service at that time.
I don't know if "everybody" knew about her, and that's not how Novak tells it.
BTW, just what are those "documents" in Andrea Mitchell's possession Wilson talked about? Just another loose end...
I THINK what these articles mean is her post at CIA was leaked, but that's not what they say and the inaccuracy bothers me.
Once that issue is settled, we can then discuss what her post was, if it was indeed a secret or undercover, and even if it was, I don't for one second think the Bush WH or VP had one thing to do with telling Novak anything about it. The evidence we know of points to the information being given to Novak by way of explaining why the heck Wilson went to Niger.
Well--sorry for the ramble, but one thing leads to the next, and I just don't see if that really is the issue the GJ is investigating what is taking so long.
I'm not saying everybody knew about her--just distinguishing between Wilson's wife's name being easily available and the question of where she worked.
It isn't clear to me the latter was widely known--though it doesn't appear to have been a closely guarded secret contrary to some spin. But her *name*, Valerie Plame, was publicly accessible information.
I'm glad you saw this. What say you about the Veep speaking with them? And I wonder about Mitchell, too...
Another discussion of the famous Plame case.
Well .. as soon as I heard that the Wilsons held fundraisers for the Clintons .. that told me everything I needed to know.
From this article:
But the central issue of the investigation is who disclosed Plame's name.
That's why I asked you what you meant by "her identity". Her *name* wasn't a secret yet that's how the issue is constantly framed in these articles.
We need to know just exactly who sent Wilson to Niger. I hope Wilson's called before this g.j. Wifey, too.
I'm learning j-school code words... a "source" not id'd as an official is probably another reporter.
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