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Cheney Power Grab: Says White House Rules Don't Apply to Him
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ShareJune 21, 2007 12:57 PM
Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.
Bill Leonard, head of the government's Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), told Waxman's staff that Cheney's office has refused to provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to Waxman.
In pointed letters released today by Waxman, ISOO's Leonard twice questioned Cheney's office on its assertion it was exempt from the rules. He received no reply, but the vice president later tried to get rid of Leonard's office entirely, according to Waxman.
Leonard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In a statement e-mailed to the Blotter on ABCNews.com, Cheney spokeswoman Megan McGinn said, "We are confident that we are conducting the office properly under the law.”
As director of the tiny, 25-person Information Security Oversight Office, Leonard is responsible for keeping track of the nation's secrets and making sure they are properly protected.
For the first two years of the George W. Bush administration, Cheney's office complied with a presidential order that requires officials to report statistics on the number of documents it classifies and declassifies.
Since 2003, however, Cheney's office has refused to submit the data to ISOO. And when ISOO inspectors tried in 2004 to schedule a routine inspection of the vice president's offices, they were rebuffed, Waxman's letter claims.
Other White House offices, including the National Security Council, did not object to similar inspections, according to Waxman.
"Serious questions can be raised about both the legality and advisability of exempting your office from the rules that apply to all other executive branch officials," Waxman said in his letter to the vice president, and asked him to explain why he felt the rules didn't apply to him and his staff and how he was protecting classified information in his office.
Former Cheney aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was recently convicted on several counts of perjury and obstruction of justice stemming from the leak of the identity of former covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, Waxman noted, and in 2006, former Cheney aide Leandro Aragoncillo pleaded guilty to sharing classified U.S. documents with foreign nationals. Aragoncillo also worked under former Democratic Vice President Al Gore, who complied with ISOO's requests.
Do you have a tip for Brian Ross and the Investigative Team?
June 21, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (363)
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And so, MSM, how do you plan on following up on this type of fascist opinion? Probably nothing as usual. Back to TPM, DailyShow and Kos!
Posted by: squashua | Jun 21, 2007 4:06:31 PM
He's part of the branch that should be pruned.
Posted by: Maxed Bandwidth | Jun 21, 2007 4:11:31 PM
Cheney has always reminded me of Mr Burns from The Simpsons...
Posted by: Jazz | Jun 21, 2007 4:20:33 PM
Am I the only one who hears Stallone saying "I AM the law!" in his head whenever he reads this kinda thing about Cheney?
Posted by: Justin | Jun 21, 2007 4:38:38 PM
Not a part of the Executive Branch? Uh...ok...so what branch of the US government ARE you a part of, jackass?
Posted by: Brad | Jun 21, 2007 4:55:31 PM
Regardless of the branch of gov't the VP is under, the fact he won't comply, when he has done so in the past, makes you wonder, whats he hiding?
Posted by: JR | Jun 21, 2007 4:57:44 PM
Cheney can argue that he is part of the legislative branch, as his only Constitutionally designated role ties him to the United States Senate. Such argument could be quite legitimate. However, if that is the case, he can't claim executive privilige any more and the rules that apply to the legislative branch will apply to him.
The VP is either in the executive or legislative branch. We'd better figure out which one the VP is in, so that we know how to properly apply the laws to his office.
Posted by: TC | Jun 21, 2007 5:01:21 PM
"The world according to Cheney" now in theaters near you.
Posted by: Sharon | Jun 21, 2007 5:16:14 PM
Robert...it is true that the VP's duties are enumerated under Article 1, which is the article laying out the legislative branch. However, the only mention of the VP is in Section 3 ("The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided...") and Section 4 ("The Senate shall choose their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of the President of the United States..."). In other words, he is only mentioned when identifying his one constitutional duty...to preside over the Senate.
Article 2, which lays out the executive branch begins with "The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows..." He is mentioned throughout Article 2, vis-a-vis the qualifications for the office, his role in a vacancy of the office of President, etc. So while your point is true, the VP has always been considered a member of the executive branch, even though he has legislative duties.
Posted by: Ryan | Jun 21, 2007 5:17:10 PM
Didn't the president issue an exec order saying effectively that whenever Cheney acted in his official duties, he acted with the power of the President? Doesn't that perforce place him within the exec branch?
Posted by: Marc | Jun 21, 2007 5:19:01 PM
Executive branch is the president. The Vice President is a cabinet member and president of the house. This is what we call the le-gi-sla-tive branch. It's a big word can you say it. Waxman is on a witch hunt. It is sad that ABC and Ross so mislead the lemmings. The media leads the people and WOW what a job ABC has done. People!!! There are actually rules about impeachment. When you shout impeach impeach you sound like morons.
Posted by: Jay | Jun 21, 2007 5:52:29 PM
This belongs as lead story. Again, Cheney shows his disdain for the rule of law and for basic American values. He can't claim executive privilege to bar disclosure of the visitor logs to his residence and then claim that he's not part of the executive branch when it suits his purposes.
Posted by: Craig | Jun 21, 2007 5:53:35 PM
he is the most evil individual alive on the planet at this moment...all other evil pales to his...
Posted by: hawk | Jun 21, 2007 6:01:14 PM
Does this mean that he is exempt from executive privilege too?
Posted by: Mary'sBaby | Jun 21, 2007 6:26:14 PM
forget impeachment...Cheney should be detained and tried as a war criminal, then suffer the same fate as war criminals...Bush and the rest of the lot should be right there with them...and just so you know I'm bipartisan about this, throw all the men and women of congress in with them, all those that voted to authorize the war and vote to keep funding it, Dems and Reps...clean house, start over...
Posted by: hawk | Jun 21, 2007 6:34:27 PM
That Cheney is even testing this shows just how far he will go to cover up the truth. What a jerk!
Posted by: Mary'sBaby | Jun 21, 2007 6:37:55 PM
So cheney has once again shown that he is an egotistical huberistic IDIOT. Are not all people who think that they are better than others.?
Posted by: claude westervelt | Jun 21, 2007 6:38:51 PM
As arrogant as this is, why are we surprised????????
Posted by: Wm Getz | Jun 21, 2007 6:40:20 PM
OK as a member of of the legislative branch does anyone remember when they found out Jefferson had 90K in his freezer. Congress was outraged because many thought he should be exempt from the search because of Legislative privlidges. So Cheney would be entitled to these not Executive. It's pretty simple really.
Posted by: Craig | Jun 21, 2007 6:43:22 PM
Ryan's comment above summarizes it best ... The VP is part of the Executive Branch and thus subject to all rules applying to that branch. His only legislative duty is as President of the Senate, to preside and vote in the case of a tie. But I'm sure Cheney would love to have it both ways to try to avoid any accountability. [And Jay's retort above is gibberish ... there is no president of the house ... can he say ex-ec-u-tive?]
Posted by: Larry | Jun 21, 2007 6:53:19 PM
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