| | Times not ready to 'make leap' Bush, Cheney knew about CIA tape destruction 
The White House has continued to deny any involvement in a coverup of the destruction of CIA terrorist interrogation tapes and has objected strongly to a New York Times story, sub-headed "White House Role Was Wider Than It Said," which revealed that four administration attorneys were involved in the decision.
"The White House tried to beat the stuffing out of you," CNN's John Roberts suggested to Mark Mazzetti, one of the Times reporters who broke the story.
"There's no challenge to the facts of the story," Mazzetti emphasized, "and in subsequent reports yesterday and today those facts have been confirmed."
Mazzetti cautioned, though, that "we wouldn't want to make that leap" to assume that the discussions went any higher than the four legal counsels and that "we don't know the extent that the president or vice president knew about this."
The Times has since issued a very partial retraction, in referrence to the headline alone, stating, "While Bush administration officials have acknowledged some discussions leading up to the destruction of the tapes ... the White House itself has not officially said anything on the subject, so its role was not wider than it said."
However, there has been no retraction of the central point that two former White House counsels -- Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Miers -- former vice presidential counsel David Addington, and a National Security Council lawyer all participated in discussions with the CIA between 2003 and 2005 about destroying the tapes.
CNN also asked Mazzetti about the news that the CIA and Department of Justice agreed yesterday to hand over documents on the destruction of the tapes to Congress after the House Intelligence Committee threatened to subpoena two CIA officials.
"I think kind of cooler heads prevailed," Mazzetti said. "I think both sides realized that there was no interest to have a showdown. They could both have parallel investigations, and so what we saw yesterday was the CIA said 'Okay, we're going to comply.'"
Mazzetti indicated that Jose Rodriguez, the former CIA director of operations who gave the go-ahead for the destruction, will be "top on the witness list," along with the CIA's top lawyer, John Rizzo. Former CIA directors Porter Goss and George Tenet are also expected to testify in hearings that "will go on for some weeks and months."
This video is from CNN's American Morning, broadcast on December 20, 2007.
Rush transcript via closed captions
ROBERTS: the cia announced it will hand over documents to a congressional committee probing the destruction of terror videotapes. The house intelligence committee threatened to subpoena two agency officials. The white house insists there was no coverup after the "new york times" says four administration attorneys were in on the talks over whether to get rid of the tapes. Joining us now live from washington is one of the reporters who broke the story about white house discussions over the tapes, "new york times" national security spor sondent mark mazzetti. What do you make of the change of heart by the cia and the department of justice who had resisted this notion of sharing any information about their investigation with members of congress?
MAZZETTI: that's right. Last friday the justice department sent a letter to the house intelligence committee, basically telling them to stand down, saying we've got our own investigation going on. You guys should delay yours until we finish our criminal inquiry. There has been a change of heart. I think kind of cooler heads prevail. There was a looming showdown between congress and the justice department on this. Both sides realize there was no interest to have a hoedown. They could both have parallel investigations. What we saw yesterday was that the cia said we're going to comply with the house intelligence committee and that both investigations can proceed.
ROBERTS: the director of operations at the cia the the time of the destruction, he gave the green light. Do you expect he would be called by congress to testify and would the cia and department of justice make him available? could they stop him from testifying?
MAZZETTI: yeah, he will officially retire from the cia next month. He is top on the witness list, and it's presumably he will be testifying along with john rizzo, the ci,'s top lawyer. Those are the two witnesses that the house intelligence committee has asked for first. There are going to be a host of witnesses, including former cia directors porter goss and george tenet. This is going to go on for some weeks and months. Those two witnesses, the house believes have the most information about the events surrounding the tapes destruction.
ROBERTS: the white house tried to beat the stuffing out of you for the story that you ran on wednesday, in particular, took exception with the subheadline that said the white house's involvement was more widespread than first acknowledged. Here's what dana perino said about that. Take a listen.
MAZZETTI: when I first looked at t I felt that that was saying that I had misled the american public on this, and I have not. There is nothing I have said that has been contradictory.
ROBERTS: the "new york times" I noticed today, mark, issued a correction on that one particular point. Let's put it up there for our viewers to take a look at here, the in, "new york times" saying while bush administration officials have acknowledged some discussions leading up to the destruction of the tapes in november of 2005, as the article noted, that the white house had t self has not officially said anything on the subject so its role was not "wider than it said." but they didn't take issue with the basic premise of the story, did they, that four people at the white house, four attorneys including alberto gonzalez, harriet miers and david addington were involved in discussions
MAZZETTI: that's right, there's no challenge to the facts of the story and subsequent reports yesterday and today, those facts have been confirmed. So there were ongoing discussions over a couple years about the tapes at the white house, among lawyers, possibly some of the policy makers. What we're still trying to figure out is exactly who was advocating what position. They did go on for several years and we believe the white house never gave a red or maybe necessarily a green light to this, and jose rodriguez, agents within the cia decided to go ahead and destroy the tapes.
ROBERTS: is it logical to assume, mark, if people like gonzalez, miers and david addington knew about this then the president and the vice president knew about it, too?
MAZZETTI: we wouldn't want to make that leap. The president said he did not recall anything about these tapes until general hayden a couple weeks ago informed him about the matter. We don't know the extent that the president or vice president knew about this.
ROBERTS: perhaps we'll know and perhaps we never will. Mark mazzetti from the "new york times," thanks very much.
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