More Thuds and Screams from the Topkapi Palace...
Michael Isikoff helps White House Counsel Fred Fielding stick the knife into Vice President Richard Cheney:
Through intermediaries, Fred Fielding tells Newsweek that he was opposed to the Libby commutation:
Why Bush Gave Scooter Libby a Pass: [White House Counsel Fred] Fielding, one of the advisers tells NEWSWEEK, reluctantly concluded that the jury had reached a reasonable verdict: the evidence was strong that Libby testified falsely about his role in the leak...
That Bush heard what Fielding said:
The president was conflicted...
But that Bush did not dare cross Cheney:
Hanging over his deliberations was Cheney, who had said he was "very disappointed" with the jury's verdict. Cheney did not directly weigh in with Fielding, but nobody involved had any doubt where he stood. "I'm not sure Bush had a choice," says one of the advisers. "If he didn't act, it would have caused a fracture with the vice president"...
