CIA’s Rodriguez Lawyers UpBlink and you’ll miss it in today’s New York Times piece on the House’s torture ban. But Jose Rodriguez, the CIA’s ex-operations director who ordered the interrogation tapes destroyed in late 2005, has hired one of Washington’s most prominent criminal attorneys:
Mr. Rodriguez has hired Robert S. Bennett, a well-known Washington lawyer, to represent him in Congressional and Justice Department inquiries into his handling of the tapes.Mr. Bennett has represented a number of high-profile clients — among them former President Bill Clinton, Caspar W. Weinberger, the former defense secretary, and Paul D. Wolfowitz, the former deputy defense secretary and World Bank president.
“Mr. Rodriguez has been a loyal public servant for 31 years and has always acted in the best interest of the country,” Mr. Bennett said. “He’s done nothing wrong.”
How in the world does a retiring CIA official have the cash to hire Robert Bennett?
Update: An answer, from a knowledgeable source. Rodriguez, like many CIA officers, bought a very generous insurance policy in anticipation of getting into some kind of legal jeopardy of one sort or another.