Bush's praise could damn Cheney
Matthew Engel in Washington
Thursday July 18, 2002
The Guardian
President Bush yesterday gave a vote of confidence to the
vice-president, Dick Cheney, who is facing an investigation into
his business practices.
But just as the president's attempts to calm Wall Street last
week saw the markets nosedive, this set of remarks only
increased the pressure on his deputy. Mr Bush expressed
confidence that Mr Cheney would be exonerated by the
Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the
accounting practices of Halliburton, the oil company he ran from
1995 to 2000.
"I've got great confidence in the vice-president. He's doing a
heck of a good job. When I picked him, I knew he was a fine
business leader and a fine, experienced man," Mr Bush said.
Others are also confident that Mr Cheney will be exonerated by
the SEC, but that is largely because it is run by a Bush
appointee, Harvey Pitt, who has already been criticised for his
lax approach towards corporate fraud.
"The president caused a problem today by wading into the
case," said a Democratic party spokeswoman, Jennifer
Palmieri. "Before his comments, the notion that Harvey Pitt was
going to conduct an impartial investigation was thin, and I think
that the president's comments raise more concerns about the
SEC's ability to be objective."
The legal pressure group Judicial Watch has sued Mr Cheney
and Halliburton, alleging that they defrauded shareholders by
overstating company revenues by nearly $450m. Both the
company and the White House have dismissed the claims as
groundless.
The president again brushed aside a suggestion that he should
ask the SEC to release documents from its 11-year-old inquiry
into Mr Bush's timely sale of shares in the energy company
Harken, where he was a director. "The key document said there
is no case," he said. Then he changed the subject. "The key
thing for the American people is to realise that the fundamentals
for economic vitality and growth are there," he said.
There is a sense in Washington that though there may well have
been improprieties in Mr Bush's dealings, these could be very
small beer compared with the goings-on at Halliburton.
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