Dogged by scandals at the notorious Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, under pressure over failures in Iraq, and embarrassed by new intelligence estimates that undermined the administration’s efforts to bully Iran into submission, the White House is under siege.
Steinberg says efforts to smother this latest disgrace will be extensive.
“I am virtually certain that we are going to find this whole cover-up went to the highest levels of the Bush administration,” he said, “All of the policy decisions related to the denial of information to Congress and other investigative agencies came directly out of the office of the Vice President.”
But keeping secrets is difficult, especially when one’s own neck is at stake.
“I would not be surprised to find out a few months from now that there is evidence of some kind that President Bush himself lied at his press conference yesterday [Thursday] and that to one degree or other was fully aware and informed about those tapes and how and when they were destroyed.”
Steinberg said he would not rule out the possibility of the administration facing legal sanction, the threat of impeachment or continuing criminal investigation after the incumbents leave office.
“There will clearly be an attempt to find a scapegoat,” Steinberg said, “but we’ve been around this block so many times over the past seven years that the credibility of the White House and top government officials is near zero.”
Steinberg is cautiously optimistic that this time the administration may have gone too far. “I honestly, at this point, do not think there is a high probability they are going to get away with it. I might be being optimistic, but that’s my take on the mood around the city and around the country.”
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