Valerie Plame: Will Libby take the fall?

This UPI story says that the FBI has “hard evidence” that “Scooter” Libby, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, and his assistant John Hannah broke federal laws in connection with the exposure of the identity of Valerie Plame. The story says the Bureau is putting the squeeze on Hannah to try to make him talk.

Josh Marshall and Kevin Drum seem pleased. But if this stays in the VPs office, I’d call that very good news for Mr. Bush. The staff guys can be fired. If necessary, Cheney can be dumped from the ticket (which might not be a bad move anyway). Of course, if (as Kevin hopefully suggests) Hannah were to implicate Cheney himself, that would be very bad news for Bush.

Question, to which I don’t know the answer: Does Ashcroft have a relationship with Libby that would account for Ashcroft’s recusal? If not, then either Kevin is right and Cheney is in trouble, or I was right before and Rove is still a target.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

One thought on “Valerie Plame: Will Libby take the fall?”

  1. Breaking Plame news

    UPI's Richard Sale has breaking news on the Plame investigation: Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawf…

Comments are closed.