It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
(visit the link for the full news article)
WASHINGTON - When Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald wanted to find out what was going on inside Vice President Dick Cheney's office, the prosecutor in the CIA leak probe made a logical move. He dropped a grand jury subpoena on the White House for all the relevant e-mail.
One problem: Even though White House computer technicians hunted high and low, an entire week's worth of e-mail from Cheney's office was missing. The week was Sept. 30, 2003, to Oct. 6, 2003, the opening days of the Justice Department's probe into whether anyone at the White House leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame.
Obstruction of justice is a criminal charge with a very broad definition. According to Yahoo! Reference, it refers to any interference of the administration and due process of law. This can take place during an investigation, as well as during a trial.
Anyone who knowingly interferes with the work of police officers, investigators, or government agencies can be charged. Someone can also be charged with obstruction of justice if they impair the efforts of a court trial. For example, threatening a juror or witness.
President Clinton was famously accused of obstruction of justice during the 1999 impeachment trial. The charge stated he attempted to "delay, impede, cover up and conceal evidence" in the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit.