Liz Cheney

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Cheney: Ruling Against Info Obtained Through Torture Is Obama's Fault

Ryan J. Reilly | October 7, 2010, 10:33AM

Liz Cheney

Yesterday a federal judge decided to exclude testimony from a witness in the trial of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee on the grounds that investigators only learned about the witness only after the suspected terrorist underwent coercive interrogation in a secret CIA prison.

Now Liz Cheney has blamed the Obama administration for the decision to try Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani in civilian court in the first place -- even though it was a Bush administration decision to hold him in a secret prison which lead to the ruling yesterday.

"The Obama Administration has dedicated itself to providing al Qaeda terrorists the kind of due process rights normally reserved for American citizens," Cheney said in a statement sent to TPMMuckraker.

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Topics: Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Eric Holder, Justice Department, Liz Cheney

Cordoba House

New Anti-Mosque Video By Liz Cheney's Group Features 9/11 Survivors, Families (VIDEO)

Ryan J. Reilly | August 18, 2010, 4:42PM

KeepAmericaSafe ad

Keep America Safe, the group run by Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol which brought the world the "Al-Qaeda Seven" campaign in the spring, is out with a new video today featuring the family members of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks who oppose the construction of a Muslim center in lower Manhattan.

The two-minute YouTube video is titled "We Remember," and features first responders and family members of Sept. 11 victims who are opposed to the construction of the Islamic cultural center two blocks away from the site of the attacks, the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque."

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Topics: Al Qaeda Seven, Bill Kristol, Cordoba House, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney, September 11

Keep America Safe

Angry Holder: Liz Cheney Ad Targeting Lawyers Was 'Reprehensible' (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | April 14, 2010, 5:42PM

Liz Cheney and Attorney General Eric Holder

More than a month after the flap over an ad from Liz Cheney's group attacked lawyers who represented Guantanamo detainees as terrorist sympathizers, Attorney General Eric Holder denounced the ad today as "reprehensible" and offered an impassioned defense of what the lawyers did.

In an exchange with Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) flagged by Huffington Post, Holder reference the ad from Cheney's group Keep America Safe, but did not cite it by name.

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Topics: Chuck Grassley, Department of Justice, Detainees, Eric Holder, Guantanamo, Justice Department, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney

Lindsey Graham

Is Lindsey Graham Playing Both Sides On DOJ Lawyers Fracas?

Zachary Roth | March 10, 2010, 11:20AM

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

Is Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) playing both sides on the "controversy" over Justice Department lawyers who represented Guantanamo detainees?

Yesterday, the South Carolina senator joined a growing chorus of conservatives in slamming a recent ad by Liz Cheney's advocacy group that questioned the loyalties of seven DOJ attorneys who had previously represented Gitmo detainees. The ad, by Keep America Safe, referred to the lawyers as "the Al Qaeda Seven," and asked "Whose values do they represent?"

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Topics: Chuck Grassley, Eric Holder, Guantanamo, Justice Department, Keep America Safe, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Lindsey Graham, Liz Cheney, Military Commissions, Military Tribunals, Senate Judiciary Committee

Did Liz Cheney's 'Department Of Jihad' Ad Backfire?

Zachary Roth | March 9, 2010, 1:41PM

Liz Cheney

Has Liz Cheney damaged her cause, and her reputation, by running an ad that questioned the loyalties of Justice Department lawyers who defended Guantanamo detainees? After a barrage of attacks on the ad, including some from prominent conservatives, it's worth asking the question.

Last week, Keep America Safe, the pro-torture advocacy group that Cheney co-chairs with Bill Kristol, ran a web ad that labeled seven DOJ lawyers who had previously represented detainees at Gitmo -- or simply filed amicus briefs in their cases -- "the Al Qaeda Seven."

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Topics: Bill Kristol, Condi Rice, Guantanamo, John Yoo, Justice Department, Ken Starr, Liz Cheney, Marc Thiessen, Philip Zelikow, Torture

Liz Cheney

Cheney: Ad That Calls DOJers Terrorist Sympathizers Does Not Question Their Loyalty

Justin Elliott | March 4, 2010, 6:48PM

A shot from Keep America Safe's "Al Qaeda Seven" ad

Via Think Progress: Liz Cheney argued today that the attack ad put out by her group Keep America Safe, which dubs Justice Department lawyers who represented Gitmo detainees "the Al Qaeda Seven," does not "question anybody's loyalty."

The Cheney ad also asks of the DOJ lawyers, "Whose values do they share?" while flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden.

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Topics: Al Qaeda, Al Qaeda Seven, Eric Holder, Justice Department, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney

American Bar Association

ABA Blasts Liz Cheney Ad As 'Divisive And Diversionary'

Justin Elliott | March 4, 2010, 2:43PM

Liz Cheney

In response to the Liz Cheney Web ad that questions the loyalty of lawyers who have represented Guantanamo detainees, the president of the American Bar Association said it is "a divisive and diversionary tactic" to impugn "the character of lawyers who have sought to protect the fundamental rights of unpopular clients."

In a statement to TPMmuckraker, ABA President Carolyn Lamm said that lawyers have an ethical obligation to "provide representation to people who otherwise would stand alone against the power and resources of the government--even to those accused of heinous crimes against this nation in the name of causes that evoke our contempt."

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Topics: American Bar Association, Carolyn Lamm, Guantanamo, Justice Department, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney

Bracewell Giuliani

Will Liz Cheney Attack Rudy Giuliani's Firm For Representing 'Terrorist Detainees'?

Justin Elliott | March 3, 2010, 12:22PM

Liz Cheney and Rudy Giuliani

In Liz Cheney's worldview, Rudy Giuliani is a disloyal al Qaeda sympathizer.

Let us explain.

Yesterday, Cheney's outfit, a group called Keep America Safe, went up with a blistering ad that attacked Justice Department lawyers who previously represented Guantanamo detainees and are now working on detainee issues. The ad dubbed the lawyers "the Al Qaeda Seven" and asked "whose values do they share?" while flashing an image of Osama bin Laden.

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Topics: Bracewell Giuliani, Carol Elder Bruce, Guantanamo, Justice Department, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney, Marc Mukasey, Osama bin Laden, Rudy Giuliani, Sherif el-Mashad

Justice Department

Anatomy Of A Smear: Cheney Attacks DOJ Attorneys As Terrorist-Friendly (VIDEO)

Justin Elliott | March 2, 2010, 3:18PM

Liz Cheney and Attorney General Eric Holder (inset)

An attack on Justice Department officials who previously represented detainees at Guantanamo was spawned by Sen. Chuck Grassley at a hearing last November, ricocheted around the right-wing media, and culminated today in a video release by Liz Cheney's group that all but accuses the lawyers of being terrorists.

The campaign-style ad from Cheney's Keep America Safe dubs the lawyers "the Al Qaeda Seven" and asks, "Whose values do they share?" while flashing a picture of Osama bin Laden. (Watch it below.)

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Topics: Chuck Grassley, Eric Holder, Jennifer Daskal, Justice Department, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney, Michael Goldfarb, Neal Katyal, Osama bin Laden, Senate Judiciary Committee

Liz Cheney

Major GOP Fundraiser Behind New Liz Cheney Group

Zachary Roth | October 26, 2009, 9:56AM

Liz Cheney and GOP fundraiser Mel Sembler

A nice little scoop from Newsweek:

Mel Sembler, the heavy-hitting Republican fundraiser and Florida real-estate magnate, plans to support Liz Cheney's new pro-war group, Keep America Safe (KAS).

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Topics: Barack Obama, Keep America Safe, Liz Cheney, Mel Sembler

Dick Cheney

Liz Cheney Won't Deny Her Father Suggested Questions On Iraq-Qaeda Ties

Justin Elliott | May 17, 2009, 4:59PM

In an appearance on ABC's This Week today, Liz Cheney employed a classic non-denial denial when asked about a report her father's office pressured interrogators to use torture to find evidence of Iraq-Qaeda links.

George Stephanopolous asked Liz Cheney about a Daily Beast piece reporting that the vice president's office in 2003 suggested interrogators waterboard an Iraqi detainee who was suspected of having knowledge of a link between Iraq and al Qaeda.

Asked specifically by Stephanopolous if she would deny "that the vice president's office did ask specifically to have information about Iraq-al Qaeda connections presented to this detainee," Cheney offered this muddled response:

I think that it's important for us to have all the facts out. And and, the first and most important fact is that the vice president has been absolutely clear that he supported this program, this was an important program, it saved American lives. Now, the way this policy worked internally was once the policy was determined and decided, the CIA, you know, made the judgments about how each individual detainee would be treated. And the Vice President would not substitute his own judgment for the professional judgment of the CIA.

Here's the video of the exchange, (h/t ThinkProgress):