@31 – And I’ve always made the argument on that topic that there is a vast difference between declassifying and taking classified info and planting it in the domestic press and that no judge or jury would buy they are the same thing, and that the National Security Act pretty much prohibits the “plant classified info in domestic press” approach.

This is a bit of non-sequitor, but it has always bothered the “tie up all the loose ends” part of my brain that no one has ever made DOJ account for the delegation of Acting AG status in that matter after Comey’s original hand off to Margolis. Fitzgerald made the point more than once in writing that his delegation was subject to being modified or withdrawn, anytime and from time to time. So IMO it would have been helpful for Congress, in addition to pushing for him to disclose this or that info (like the Cheney – or Bush – interviews), to have required a tracking of what was done with the delegation and, for that matter, where it is now.

Did McNulty call it back from Margolis? When the decision was made not to pursue Rove, was that cleared in any fashion with the then acting AG and was there any duty to clear it in that fashion (even though it was not relevant to Scooter’s case, in the oral argument after the conviction Fitzgerald and Walton spent some of the short allotment of time going off into the weeds on whether or not Fitzgerald was REQUIRED to run the decision to indict by Margolis (which he had done anyway, but instead of just cutting it off and saying it doesn’t matter because I did so let’s get on to talking about sending Libby to jail, he got kind of argumentative that he did NOT have to run it by the acting AG)

So to wrap things up for me, it would have been helpful for Congress

to find out whether the delegation from Margolis ever went to anyone else and where is it now – with the chain of authority;

to find out whether the mandate in the delegation was ever changed and if so, in what fashion; to resolve the exchange between Walton and Fitzgerald by finding out if DOJ believes that the acting AG did have ultimate thumbs up or down power and the right of review before charging decisions in an in-house delegation such as this (and given the fact that there are other ones going on right now, that would be kinda nice to get clarified);

to find out the degree to which the mandate has been completely withdrawn now, with no charging decisions on anyone else and new AG, dep AG etc

But they just didn’t. Didn’t even make a minimal effort to get at any of that – just wanted to glitz up the sexy requests for Cheney’s head.

Maybe in a sideways manner we might get some of that info through this CREW request, though bc it seems to me that CREW could maybe craft (I’m not definite on this, I’d have to play with it some and not being a litigator by nature or practice makes me more iffy about my instincts on it) a response based on the competence of the declarations that gets at some of this. After all – how in the world is it that DOJ is, at this late date, making filings that say they “don’t know” if there was a confidentiality agreement and attaching declarations that say, “yeah, ya know, like we sometimes do make promises of confidentiality” and they never go to the special prosecutor or the AG for the special prosecutor to get a competent declaration of what was or was not done?

Because competence of the declarations is another issue, aside and apart from playing both sides. Who is competent to invoke deliberative privilege for the WH? The DOJ’s OLC that is also invoking work product for the attorney’s investigating the WH? If they are competent as to one (I’m not sure Barron is as to either) how can they be competent as to the other? How can they have the knowledge of DOJ’s investigative work AND the knowledge of the adverse party’s deliberations and declare to the court on both?

/ramble

Vice President’s recollection of discussions with Lewis Libby, the White House Communications Director, and the White House Chief of Staff regarding the appropriate response to media inquiries about the source of the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a CIA employee.

Vice President’s description of his role in resolving disputes about whether to declassify certain information.

it was this part of the interview that took Fitz off criminal charges concerning exposing national assets by anyone, including libby and cheney…that’s the turning point right there

the vice president asserted his pixie dust;

“I am the vice president, given authority by the president, to de-classify at will, on the fly, at my discretion if I believe there is a national security concern”

to which Fitz had absolutely no method to defend against said claim and insure himself a victory, rather then put the country through the stress and then failing he went for the easy kill, lying to grand jury…to me not the best solution at all

it was during this time that Cheney went on his treason tour, telling everyone he did indeed have the right to expose national assets on the fly at will

this is Chaney’s m.o.

when he knows he is exposed or about to be exposed he goes on tour in a pre-emptive strike against said exposure, therefore inoculating himself from that crime

it worked incredibly well before Fitz, Fitz was played by Cheney, much to my chagrin since I believe Fitz a genius and Cheney a moron, I am sad to see this is what happened but I from my recollection of Fitz’s statement it did

so since his treason tour worked so well, when confronted with war crimes he figured he would give the torture tour a go

and that worked even better then his treason tour

he’s getting better at his crime tour strategy

Why, yes… yes, I believe it is…

(sorry it’s wapoo)

the creations of david rockefeller?

some think that to suggest this is to be wearing a tin-foil hat.

i think that one doesn’t have to be wearing a tin hat to notice that the blackbush and the blackgonsales[sic]are dancing to tunes orchestrated by others than the electorate.

back in the us, back in the us, back in the ussr.

I think it’s absolutely nuts to risk that outcome, but momentum is a powerful force and based on 160 plus days of mo and the unlikelihood of things changing on this front before the fall, right now I’d bet on it happening.

The sooner, the better.
It’s hard to imagine the FBI isn’t doing a slow smouldering burn on this one. FWIW, I hope they are.

I’d have no clue about atty weirdness, so thanks for that mention.
The whole thing is too AliceInWonderland for credulity.