Cheney's Memory Lapses

Former Vice President Dick Cheney had a remarkable ability to forget the details of the Valerie Plame affair. A recent Freedom of Information Act request has produced the FBI's 28-page summary of its interview with Cheney during the criminal investigation surrounding the scandal. During a long May 2004 interview, Cheney couldn't recall details about the Plame controversy on 72 occasions. Cheney couldn't remember a conversation with Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby during which, according to Libby's notes, Plame's name came up. Later, when Libby knew he'd have to turn his notes over to the FBI, he found that reference to Cheney's name and talked with the vice president about it during another conversation Cheney couldn't recall. Cheney also apparently persuaded President Bush to declassify parts of a document on weapons of mass destruction on Iraq. Afterward, Libby gave that information to a New York Times reporter while also discussing Plame's CIA identity. Cheney refused to confirm any discussion he'd had with Bush about the matter.