Cheney asks judge to block video release

DENVER, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney is trying to block the release of video depositions by White House aides in a suit against the Secret Service, a report said.

The Denver Post reported Sunday that in a motion filed Saturday, Cheney's office argued the videotapes could be used to embarrass and invade the privacy of two aides called to testify in a civil lawsuit by a man who was arrested after he allegedly touched Cheney at a Colorado shopping mall in 2006.

Steven Howards of Golden, Colo., is the agents. He approached Cheney at the mall and told him U.S. policy in Iraq was "disgusting," the newspaper said.

Cheney's motion expressed particular concern that video of the deposition could be posted on the Internet video-sharing site YouTube.com.

"As courts have recognized, using digital technology, a video recording can easily be 'cut and spliced' so as to embarrass and even humiliate a witness," Cheney's lawyers wrote in a U.S. District Court filing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig Shaffer ruled that videotaped testimony could be released. The vice

president's office was given 10 days to contest the release of certain deposition tapes.