Cheney Spokesman Departs Country As CIA Leak Investigation Wraps Up
Cheney spokesman departs country as CIA leak investigation wraps up
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Cheney..._CIA_1011.html
John Byrne
10/11/2005
The chief spokesman for Vice President Dick Cheney, Steve Schmidt, left the United States Oct. 3 and won't return until Oct. 26, well after the investigation into who outed a covert CIA agent wraps up, RAW STORY has confirmed.
Schmidt has left for Iraq. A RAW STORY email sent to Schmidt's private White House address Tuesday yielded this reply: "I will be out of the country from October 3rd through October 26th and will have VERY limited email access. For assistance, please contact Jon Berrier at 202-XXX-XXXX. Thank you."
Time Magazine recently described him as "one of the White House's most aggressive strategists." Officials told the magazine in a largely unnoticed piece last week Schmidt planned to fly to Iraq to shore up the communications team there, and said he was sent at the request of the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalizad. Reporter Mike Allen said the trip "is supported at the highest levels of the White House."
Schmidt's departure coincides with the final days of federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's inquiry into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. Fitzgerald's grand jury ends its session Oct. 15.
Scooter Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, has been named as a subject of the investigation. New York Times reporter Judith Miller recently named Libby as her confidential source. She spent 85 days in prison after refusing to identify who spoke to her about the case.
The Vice President was noticeably absent from the fiftieth anniversary party last Thursday for the conservative standardbearer The National Review.
Senior Bush adviser Karl Rove, also fingered in the case, has been absent from recent public events, including the nomination of Hariet Miers to the Supreme Court. RAW STORY confirmed Rove's absence Oct. 9.
Those close to the investigation believe White House figures may be deliberately keeping a low profile to create some distance between them and the president should any member of his team be indicted.
