Judge requests Cheney interview notes

WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- A federal judge demanded notes from an FBI interview of former Vice President Dick Cheney during an investigation into the leak of an ex-CIA operative's name.

Judge Emmett Sullivan told the U.S. Justice Department to turn over the notes by July 1, The Washington Times reported Friday.

The Obama administration's Justice Department, like that of the Bush administration, argued at a hearing Thursday that making the records public could open Cheney to ridicule from political enemies and even late-night talk-show hosts like Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show," the Times reported.

Fearing similar scorn, other top government officials would be reluctant to cooperate with investigators, Justice Department lawyer Jeffrey Smith argued.

"If we become a fact-finder for political enemies, they aren't going to cooperate," Smith said. "I don't want a future vice president to say, 'I'm not going to cooperate with you because I don't want to be fodder for The Daily Show.'"

The Justice Department declined comment Thursday, the Times reported.

The identity of the CIA operative, Valerie Plame, was leaked to the press in 2003 in what some called an attempt to discredit her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a prominent Iraq war critic.