WASHINGTON — A federal judge said Thursday that he wants to look at notes from the FBI’s interview with former Vice President Dick Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative.
U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan’s decision to review the documents followed arguments by Obama administration lawyers that future presidents and vice presidents may not cooperate with criminal investigations if they know what they say could become available to their political opponents and late-night comics who would ridicule them.
Sullivan said the Justice Department must give him more precise reasons for keeping the information confidential.
The liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has sued the Justice Department, seeking records related to Cheney’s interview in the investigation.
