‘Felon’ Hired at Repug Think-tank Hudson Institute and More …

WASHINGTON (AFP) Jan. 6 — I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, the former top aide to VP Dick Cheney who was indicted in the CIA leak case, has a new job, focusing on Asia and anti-terrorism at a conservative think tank.

Libby, who has pleaded not guilty to obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements, will serve as senior adviser to the Hudson Institute.

“Scooter Libby brings decades of experience to Hudson Institute that will strengthen our robust research efforts,” the think tank’s chairman, Walter Stern, said in a statement.

Libby, who stepped down as Cheney’s chief of staff after he was indicted, is a veteran of Washington policy circles, after working at the State Department, on Capitol Hill and in the Department of Defense, as well as the White House.

He signalled through his combative legal team at his first appearance in court in November that he would fight hard to clear his name, and he is next due in court on February 3.

Libby is the only official so far indicted in the probe by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald into claims that senior administration officials outed CIA operative Valerie Plame in revenge for criticisms of the White House push for war with Iraq by her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson.

Former Chief of Staff to US VP Dick Cheney, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was indicted in the CIA leak case, has a new job focusing on Asia and anti-terrorism at a conservative think tank. AFP/File  

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WASHINGTON D.C. Jan. 10 — Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is said to have spent the past month preparing evidence he will present to a grand jury alleging that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove knowingly made false statements to FBI and Justice Department investigators and lied under oath while he was being questioned about his role in the leak of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame’s identity more than two years ago, according to sources knowledgeable about the probe.

Although there have not been rumblings regarding Fitzgerald’s probe into the Plame leak since he met with the grand jury hearing evidence in the case more than a month ago, the sources said that Fitzgerald has been quietly building his case against Rove and has been interviewing witnesses, in some cases for the second and third time, who have provided him with information related to Rove’s role in the leak. It is unclear when Fitzgerald is expected to meet with the grand jury again.

WASHINGTON (WaPo) Nov. 22 — Cheney took point in the massive PR blitz aimed at salvaging the administration’s reputation. He lashed out at the suggestion that “brave Americans were sent into battle for a deliberate falsehood,” calling it “revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety” and saying that “it has no place anywhere in American politics.”

But he was a bit late: Opinion polls show that fully 55 to 57 percent of Americans believe the Bush administration was intentionally misleading in the run up to war. That kind of mistrust is why the question of the administration’s integrity has become absolutely central to modern American politics.

Fact Checking Watch

Rhetorical Devices

● Top Names Aid Fund for Libby to Raise $5 million

On October 6, 2002, a newspaper in the UK published a little known article about Mr. Cheney’s advisers. According to Neil Mackay, an award-winning journalist, writing for Scotland’s Sunday Herald, Dick Cheney commissioned an energy report from ex-Secretary of State, James Baker III. The time of this “commission” is not reported, but since the members of the appointed task force held three videoconferences and teleconferences in December, January, and February 2000-2001, Cheney therefore logically contacted Baker some time prior to the December 2000 meeting–during the presidential transition period.

Equally intriguing is the fact that Baker has ties with both the Bushes and Ken Lay. Years earlier, in 1993, after Baker stepped down from his stint as Secretary of State, he and Robert A. Mosbacher–Bush senior’s commerce secretary–signed a joint consulting and investing agreement with Enron. The two men began a lucrative career making joint global investments with Enron on natural gas projects. Baker Botts LLC, James Baker’s law firm, flourished in its specialty of international oil and gas counseling.

Since Baker walked in their circles, when he set out to select an energy team to advise the White House, he filled it with leaders of the oil, gas, and power industries. Three appointees stand out: Kenneth Lay from Enron, who was working on the Bush Energy Transition team under Dick Cheney at the time; Chuck Watson, the then Chairman and CEO of Houston’s Dynegy Inc., and Dynegy’s General Counsel and Secretary, Kenneth Randolf. Both firms were deeply involved in illegally manipulating the California energy market at the time and eventually faced criminal investigations.

The oilmen selected for the task force were Luis Giusti, a Shell non-executive director, formerly CEO of Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A.; John Manzoni, regional president of British Petroleum; David O’Reilly, Chief Executive of Chevron/Texaco; and Steven L. Miller, Board Chairman, CEO and President of Shell Oil.

In his Sunday Herald article, Neil Mackay links another Fellow of the Baker Institute to the document, Sheikh Saud Al Nasser Al Sabah, the former Kuwaiti oil minister. The Baker Institute’s report on energy was funded through Khalid Al-Turki and the Arthur Ross Foundation.

WAHINGTON D.C. (Bloomberg) Jan. 10 — Representatives Roy Blunt of Missouri and John Boehner of Ohio have been among the key intermediaries between Republican lawmakers and lobbyists since their party took control of the U.S. Congress in 1995.

Now, with both men vying to succeed Representative Tom DeLay as House majority leader, those ties may loom as an issue.

Representative Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican, said concerns that the two men are too close to Washington’s K Street lobbying corridor may encourage a dark-horse candidate to run against them. “We have three weeks until this election, and a lot can happen between now and then,” Flake said.

DeLay’s Jan. 7 decision to permanently relinquish his leadership post came after former aides were mentioned in a plea-bargain agreement with Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff. House Republicans, who will hold a new vote the week of Jan. 30, have pledged to address ethics issues, including a possible overhaul of lobbying rules.

Blunt, 55, and DeLay, 58, share a network of ties as extensive as any in Congress, including links to lobbyists.

Blunt, who was tapped by then-House Republican Whip DeLay in 1999 to be his chief deputy, has been acting majority leader since Texan DeLay stepped down after being indicted in September on unrelated money-laundering charges in Austin.

Both men’s political action committees employ Jim Ellis, who was indicted along with DeLay. DeLay’s PAC gave Blunt’s committee a $150,000 donation in 2000, and Blunt’s PAC gave $10,000 to DeLay’s non-profit foundation that same year. Both lawmakers’ PACs have employed Alexander Strategy Group, a Georgetown-based firm whose partners include former Abramoff and DeLay associates.

LIMITED LOBBYING

The public’s dim view of Washington ethics is backed by broad support for legislation to ban lobbying largess. As noted, 90 percent would ban lobbyists from giving gifts to members of Congress. Two-thirds also would bar lobbyists from making direct campaign contributions. And 54 percent would make it illegal for lobbyists even to organize fund-raisers on behalf of congressional candidates.

The first two proposals win support from majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. Republicans, though, are evenly split on whether lobbyists should be allowed to organize fundraisers, while most Democrats and independents would ban it.

Members of Congress, Compared to Most People
                Now  1993
More honest      2%    2%
More dishonest  44%   33%
About the same  52%   65%

Oct. 31, 2005 — Democrats lashing at indicted Cheney aide need to recall President Clinton’s questionable pardon of a Libby client. Libby’s past legal career is closely intertwined with Hillary’s husband presidency. During the 1980s and 1990s, Libby was a lawyer for Marc Rich.

And if you don’t remember Marc Rich, you will be reminded of him soon enough. He’s the American financier who skipped out of the United States in 1983, one step ahead of a $48-million tax bill and a 51-count indictment for various skullduggeries, including trading with Iran amidst the American hostage crisis. As Rich’s lawyer over the next two decades, Libby collected, by his own estimate, some $2 million in fees

However, down the road, as we look to the next presidential election, the political leaves might turn brighter for the GOP. How so? Because the federal prosecutor who went after Marc Rich, back in 1983, was one Rudolph Giuliani.

Now suppose Giuliani ends up with the Republican presidential nomination, squaring off against Hillary Rodham Clinton. In their nationally televised debate, Libby would be a mere footnote. But Rich would be an important topic, since neither Bill nor Hillary has ever fully explained his pardon.

So Libby’s case provides a lesson in how Washington works. To use his image, when people are so connected in sneaky ways, if one “tree” starts to turn, an entire cluster might fall.