Stuck in a time warp, the Department of Justice has made its arguments for withholding the FBI's interview of former Vice President Richard Cheney before United States District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan. Politico has the details here.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington is seeking the document [ed. note-- I do work for CREW but have not worked on this matter]. The government has stated that Cheney did not ask for confidentiality when interviewed, meaning exemption 7(D) of the FOIA doesn't apply. The government's argument today, that they should be able to wait five to ten years to release this type of information is basically the executive branch trying to write and implement legislation before the judicial branch.
My take on their argument is that the material should be released and executive branch people who now or will work in the government in the future should act ethically; they will then have no problem with being interviewed or having any interview of themselves being released because they would have done nothing wrong. Maybe I live in a world populated by Frank Capra idealism but that is the government we should be aiming for, not the lesser standard argued for by the Department of Justice.
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