Blog rumor: Powell fingers Cheney; VP likely to plea-bargain, resign

[blitzen]

Who knows if it's true...but it makes for fun reading.

http://onegoodmove.org/1gm /


"During the meeting, Powell recounted to the senator that he had traveled on air force one with Bush and Cheney, and brought to their attention a classified memorandum about the issue of whether there was indeed a transaction inolving Niger and yellow cake uranium. the document included Ambassador Joe Wilson's involvement and identified his wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert agent. the memorandum further stated that this information was secret. Powell told McCain that he showed that memo only to two people--president and vice president. according to Powell, Cheney fixated on the Wilson/Plame connection, and Plame's status.

Powell testified about this exchange in great length to the grand jury investigating the plame case. according to sources close to the case, Powell appeared convinced that the vice president played a focal role in disclosing plame's undercover status.

In his conversation with McCain, Powell felt that--at a minimum--there would be a serious shakeup at national security council as a consequence. in particular, vice president cheney would no longer hold a pivotal role in us national security affairs. Powell apparently did not discuss the potential of a cheney resignation.

Lead prosecutor patrick Fitzgerald has apparently been looking at the precedent of formerly indicted Nixon vice president Spiro Agnew. this shows the likely path, because addressing executive immunity and privilege questions would necessarily begin with a plea-bargain deal that would entail a resignation."

[Skink]

1. Didn't realize Powell had been before th GJ..

[clydefrand]

5. He said earlier this week on Larry King's show that

Valerie Plame's name was not on the document that he had seen on the plane. And yes, he did testify.

[blitzen]

2. i'm pretty sure Powell testified quite a while ago n/t

[Divernan]

3. Cheney's plea bargain should include turning over his $8mil stock options

You know - the Halliburton stock options worth $280,000 when he took office - that he should have sold at the time, but held on to, which are now worth approximately $8 million? The most ill-gotten gains in history, arising as they do from the blood- soaked, no-bid Halliburton contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[blitzen]

4. this may be bogus, per a post on another thread...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[Carni]

6. Fineman said on softballs tonight

That Powell is rumored to be livid -- I think it was Fineman?

Some talking head that just recently started speaking sense said that Powell is angry about being used.

[longship]

7. This does fit well BUT IT'S BEEN DEBUNKED

This all fits very well with what has been revealed and with what we all already know. I wonder if this is for real.

The only thing I have against it is the suggestion that McCain would be appointed as Veep. No matter how much lobbying, Chimp would *never* appoint McCain. First, he doesn't like him (no matter how many hugs they've given each other). McCain is a moderate. Chimp would never appoint a moderate as Veep. Second, the governor of AZ is a Democrat. If Chimp appoints McCain Veep, Gov. Napolitano will appoint a Dem to McCain's empty seat. Chimp would not allow that.

If Cheney resigns, the new Veep will be a Representative or Senator from a state with a Repug governor. And, he or she will be a wingnut.

On edit: Cheney was not on the Africa trip. Any article which gets this easily verified fact wrong is suspect. This is bunk.

[wallwriter]

8. Thank God PA has a Dem Governor - Rendell.

Otherwise, we could end up with Santorum as VP...

[Zen Democrat]

9. Do the President and Vice President ever ride on the same plane?

I think that they purposefully never are on the same plane -- for the sake of government continuity. I find that part of the story quite implausible.

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Can we be assured that Cheney will be out of the loop once he resigns?

I mean, they've been doing all these machinations behind the scenes for so long, what difference will it really make once he resigns? It's not like we're going to start monitoring his calls.