Here’s your delayed Fitzmas present… but you only get to play with the box and packing materials
From Josh Gerstein at Politico:
A federal judge has ordered the Justice Department to release notes and summaries of former Vice President Dick Cheney’s 2004 interview with Special Prosecutor Pat Fitzgerald in the CIA leak case, but is allowing the deletion of what may be some of the most interesting details in the documents.
In a ruling issued Thursday morning, Judge Emmet Sullivan flatly rejected claims by both Bush and Obama appointees at DOJ that the entirety of the records should be withheld because their disclosure could discourage White House officials from cooperating in future investigations. . . . He said the impact of such an argument would be “breathtakingly broad” and “be in direct contravention of ‘the basic policy’ of” the Freedom of Information Act.
The judge’s ruling came in response to a FOIA suit filed by liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. . . .
In a likely disappointment to aficionados of the CIA leak case, however, Sullivan appears to have okayed the withholding of details about Cheney’s talks with CIA Director George Tenet about Ambassador Joe Wilson’s trip to Niger, talks with National Security Adviser Condi Rice, discussions regarding the 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union Address, discussions about how to respond to press inquiries about the leak of CIA officer Valerie Wilson’s identity, and Cheney’s involvement in declassification discussions.
But… but… that’s all the good stuff! Oh, well, maybe we’ll be able to learn something from the fragments that aren’t redacted.
See emptywheel and CREW for more information, speculation, etc.