Cheney’s office hid wiretapping memos from White House chief of staff.
Cheney’s office hid wiretapping memos from White House chief of staff.
Today, the Washington Post’s Angler series explores Vice President Cheney’s heavy hand in Bush’s domestic surveillance program. Documents giving “strategic direction to the nation’s largest spy agency” were held not in the White House but in Cheney’s office. Cheney’s lawyer David Addington, who wrote the documents, kept White House Chief of Staff Andy Card in the dark:
It is unlikely that the history of U.S. intelligence includes another operation conceived and supervised by the office of the vice president. White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. had “no idea,” he said, that the presidential orders were held in a vice presidential safe. An authoritative source said the staff secretariat, which kept a comprehensive inventory of presidential papers, classified and unclassified, possessed no record of these.
In an interview, Card said the Executive Office of the President, a formal term that encompassed Bush’s staff but not Cheney’s, followed strict procedures for handling and securing presidential papers. “If there were exceptions to that, I’m not aware of them,” he said. “If these documents weren’t stored the right way or put in the right places or maintained by the right people, I’m not aware of it.”
Asked why Addington would write presidential directives, Card said, “David Addington is a very competent lawyer.”
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They always hide evry evidence of the War Crimes! Bush/Chenney HAGUE 2009!
September 14th, 2008 at 4:21 pmThere may be criminal liabilities involved here!
September 14th, 2008 at 4:22 pmI meant… ‘their War Crimes’…
September 14th, 2008 at 4:22 pmThere goes the Republicans “circular firing squad”. “It wasn’t me, it was the other guy” is something we will be hearing a lot for the next 5 months.
September 14th, 2008 at 4:41 pmCan we impeach these guys now?
September 14th, 2008 at 4:42 pmSince when is the VP’s lawyer legally allowed to enact policy or directives ?
September 14th, 2008 at 4:43 pmsacopenapa Says:
They always hide evry evidence of the War Crimes! Bush/Chenney HAGUE 2009!
Bumpersticker
September 14th, 2008 at 4:52 pmBush/Chenney et al
HAGUE Jan. 21, 2009
Did the Congress give the President the authority to delegate the writing of Presidential Directives to someone whose boss argues is not part of the Executive Branch?
September 14th, 2008 at 5:10 pmMCMetal Says:
Since when is the VP’s lawyer legally allowed to enact policy or directives ?
________
That was my thought too, MC.
“David Addington is a very competent lawyer…” is NOT an acceptable answer to the question, “Why would Addington write Presidential directives?”
September 14th, 2008 at 5:16 pmDo you know what we should do about this? We should all DO NOTHING, still!
September 14th, 2008 at 5:20 pmwell, both parties are talking reform, so this problem will be solved which ever party controls the WH. That is if someone tells P what the VP does.
September 14th, 2008 at 5:21 pmMaybe menopausal cheney or whatever parts she’s got that got her on this ticket, but without the qualifications. What’s scary about P is not only her lack of experience or qualifications, but that she’d be taking this sort of anti-democratic power with no oversight following cheney.
We don’t have to worry about democrats abusing power if they win since the rebupicans will be constantly investigating.
September 14th, 2008 at 5:50 pmThis Washington Post story is excellent and goes far deeper than Goldsmith’s book, “The Terror Presidency.” But as I read it, my belief that Cheney is the shadow President was totally reinforced. The fact that Bush didn’t even know about the Justice Department’s objections to the NSA surveillance program is really quite amazing. As earlier related, considering that he also wasn’t in the meetings that determined the number of troops for the “surge,” because he “had other things to do,” is also quite telling. The Dems screwed up big time when they didn’t move toward impeachment of Bush and Cheney immediately upon reaching a majority in the House in Jan. of 2006. The Senate probably wouldn’t have convicted them, but it may have bound their hands enough to prevent further damage to our nation for the following two years.
September 14th, 2008 at 6:00 pmIt’s just another hypocricy, isn’t it? The rogue government advocating the overthrow of rogue governments.
September 14th, 2008 at 6:07 pmCheney’s been running a shadow-Presidency, WITHIN the fuuking Presidency?
I’m pretty sure that constitutes treason, under normal understandings of the term.
Can we please arrest, imprison, try, convict and execute this fascist beast, please?
September 14th, 2008 at 6:17 pmBush was palpably dumstruck when he heard the news of the WTC attacks.
But Cheney was already moving the pieces around.
Cheney’s ‘portfolio’ within the administration was always intelligence. The Chimp was too stupid to trust with anything so vital.
So Cheney knew, but didn’t tell Bush to preserve the illuison of ‘plausible deniability.’ Watching the poor, simple, simian Booosh sit there in that Fla classroom was enough to convince me he had no clue…But Darth?
Oh, yeah…
September 14th, 2008 at 6:20 pmhttp://therealmccain.com/doctors/?utm_source=rgemail Sign the petition to get his medical records released to the public.Great video from Dr’s expaining why this should happen..as if we didn’t know:)
September 14th, 2008 at 6:28 pmI think it’s safe to say that a McSame administration would diverge from BushCo in that way, at least, if no other.
September 14th, 2008 at 6:30 pmGive it up already. Nothing is going to be done about any of the crimes the Bush Adm. committed. The Democrats have been well aware of the crimes for a long time and that’s why they won’t do anything. Their just as guilty.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:21 pmThis is what happens when you put an idiot in the White House. Now the Republicans want to elect two idiots. And who will be pulling the strings if they win, still Cheney and Addington no doubt.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:22 pmAt this point, I think we could find videos of Cheney killing puppies and drinking their blood and it would not make any difference.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:38 pmHe is a criminal — there is so much evidence to support that charge, yet, he walks among us, unafraid of the law.
He is living proof that life is not fair.
OT
Two months ago the repugs were claiming that no damage had been done by Katrina to any oil rigs in the Gulf, therefore off shore drilling is the answer — today, we hear that Ike has been severe enough to cause interruption of supply to the extent that gasoline prices will rise immediately as much as .75/gal.
September 14th, 2008 at 7:41 pm“White House Chief of Staff Andrew H. Card Jr. had “no idea,” he said, that the presidential orders were held in a vice presidential safe.”
__________
So THAT’S what BigDick was keeping in his man-sized safe…
September 14th, 2008 at 7:50 pm.
If Addington is writing Presidential Directives, then one can assume that Addington is doing so by the directive of the President of the U.S.A.
The tail is waging the dog…
.
September 14th, 2008 at 8:00 pmI don’t know about competence, Mr. Addington is a very unethical, criminal, sleezy lawyer. Rove with a law degree. Shadow President & VP.
September 14th, 2008 at 8:25 pmRove: McCain went ‘too far’ in ads
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/14/campaign.wrap/index.html
September 14th, 2008 at 9:18 pmThis guy Addington, once DOJ is restored to NORMAL operation, is going down hard. And we thought Cheney was evil..
September 14th, 2008 at 9:34 pmhttp://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/09/obama_visits_david_axelrod_off.html
I thought it might be appropriate to put this in here, in lieu of the fact that this speaks about Presidential character, and questions he asked himself when deciding whom to vote for…Very Good, thoughtful questions that those Undecided might want to ponder…it’s under the comments..left side.From the RET.Officer…
September 14th, 2008 at 10:39 pmRove, Cheney, Addington, Gonzales, Yoo, Libby, and Miers should all be deep under investigation, if not already in jail. Mukasey is but the latest Cheney/Bush enabler.
The Bush legal fictions should be challenged by Congress or the Courts. It’s called check & balances. Cheney/Bush believe in the modern monarchy, also known as the Unitary Executive. A pox on all their houses!
September 14th, 2008 at 10:41 pmDavid Addington may be a very competent lawyer, but is he an ethical human being? Hell, is he even a law-abiding lawyer?
September 14th, 2008 at 11:49 pmI wonder if Bush likes his authority overstepped. Probably not, considering Bush’s ego is bigger than Cheney’s contempt for humanity.
September 14th, 2008 at 11:50 pmCheney is the shadow president of the shadow government, but you don’t really think that Cheney is calling the shots, do you? He’s taking orders. Bush is so far removed from the actual deciders that he probably has no clue how powerless he is. For real power, I’d suggest looking to W’s dad.
September 15th, 2008 at 12:33 amYIKES.
3 Days of the Condor.
It’s a true story after all…
September 15th, 2008 at 2:39 amCheney’s office is looking more and more like Catherine de Medicis’s poison room in the Chateau de Blois. Just as she dipped books in arsenic he has dissolved our Constitution with acid laws written in blood- aided and abetted by Congress.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:41 amDavid Addington – I know that name. He’s the villain in that new Jane Meyer thriller, The Dark Side. Oh man, that character is pure evil – the man LOVES torture. He’s like Voldemort and Darth Vader rolled into one. Good thing he’s not real…
Wait – whaddya mean “it’s a non-fiction book?”
September 15th, 2008 at 7:56 am