August 22, 2007

Known Knowns And Unknown Unknowns Of The New Wiretap Program

Ever since December 2005, when the White House admitted it conducted surveillance on Americans without obtaining a warrant, lawmakers have been wondering about the scope and extent to which the federal government was spying on its own citizens. When one of the judges on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, James Robertson, quickly resigned in protest, many Americans became acquainted with the top-secret FISA court for the very first time.

It's nearly two years later, and details are still slow in coming. Some things we think we know: The Bush administration admits the National Security Agency bypassed FISA's provisions protecting Americans from wanton Fourth Amendment violations, but as an afterthought. The target was overseas electronic communications -- of any kind, even without reasonable certainty that the target had ties to terrorism. If an American just happened to be on the other end of the line, so be it.

Some civil libertarians, of course, view the NSA program as President Bush giving himself license to listen in on every Tom, Dick and Mary squawking into a cell phone. That's possible, but it's also doubtful. Counterterrorism is the point (and no, saying so does not justify what may very well be unconstitutional domestic surveillance).

And that presents ever more obstacles for administration critics clamoring to know what the government has been up to. The White House has made arguments implying that it is circumventing the law (see all those signing statements), but refuses, even under congressional subpoena, to describe how and in what circumstances it is doing so. Keeping secrets in the name of national security has generally been deemed a legitimate and necessary function of government. The problem is this president and this administration. The executive branch has a tremendous amount of flexibility in deciding what falls under the category of "national security." For those who don't trust Bush or Dick Cheney, that is incredibly frightening.

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Posted at 8:00 PM
Posted to: Bush Administration, Congress, Constitution, James Comey, President Bush, Robert Mueller, Terrorism
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August 16, 2007

Ashcroft Was 'In No Condition' For Gonzales, Card Visit

Newly released notes from FBI Director Robert Mueller indicate two White House aides ignored the health concerns of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft as they tried to pressure the AG to sign off on President Bush's secret, possibly unconstitutional domestic spying program.

In the notes [PDF], obtained by the House Judiciary Committee and released today, Mueller seems to have been angered by then-White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and former counsel Alberto Gonzales, who insisted on seeing Ashcroft in his hospital room while the AG was recovering from gall bladder surgery and acute pancreatitis. Mueller says he was tipped off to the visit by then-Deputy AG James Comey, who assumed acting AG powers during his boss' illness.

Having reached Mueller while he was dining with his wife and daughter, Comey said that Ashcroft was "in no condition to see them, much less make decision [sic] to authorize continuation of the program." As is consistent with their sworn testimony, Comey requested Mueller's presence at the hospital to "witness" Ashcroft's condition.

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Posted at 6:41 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, Constitution, Dick Cheney, Homeland Security, James Comey, John Ashcroft, President Bush, Robert Mueller
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July 31, 2007

House Dems Push Gonzales Impeachment; Specter Unhappy With WH Response

UPDATED.

Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee today laid out a case for forcibly removing Attorney General Alberto Gonzales from office, after filing a resolution [PDF] that would kick off preliminary impeachment proceedings.

"Americans of all stripes believe that we deserve an attorney general who will not allow the politicization of the judicial system," said the former prosecutor, flanked by other former officers of the law turned legislators. The attorney general should "respect the laws of privacy" and "be forthright with the American people and U.S. Congress," Inslee added.

If the resolution receives a simple majority, the House Judiciary Committee will conduct an investigation into whether Gonzales has committed any impeachable offenses, such as perjury.

The months-long investigation into the politically tinged firings of U.S. attorneys last year, and a related one into a secret surveillance program considered by many in DOJ to be illegal, has cast Gonzales in an unflattering light. He was elevated to the job from White House counsel in February 2005.

Democrats and Republicans alike have pushed for Gonzales to be fired or resign, but both the attorney general and President Bush, a longtime friend and career benefactor, have refused to give in. The White House has also ignored congressional subpoenas in the ongoing investigations.

Calling impeachment a "last resort," Inslee said that Congress' and the public's loss of faith in Gonzales was harmful to the judicial system and therefore to democracy. "Accordingly, I am here today with a number of colleagues to call on the Judiciary Committee in the House of Representatives to conduct a thorough investigation to determine whether articles of impeachment are appropriately lodged against the attorney general," the Washington lawmaker said.

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Posted at 6:52 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Congress, House, James Comey, John Ashcroft, Patrick Leahy, President Bush, Robert Mueller, Senate
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July 27, 2007

Mueller Contradicts Gonzales Over Spy Program

FBI Director Robert Mueller, in testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary Committee, contradicted statements by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that there was no internal dispute within the administration about the legality of a warrantless eavedropping program.

The dispute revolves around a late-night visit in 2004 that Gonzales, as a White House counsel, and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card made to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's hospital room, supposedly in an attempt to persuade Ashcroft to sign off on the terrorist surveillance program. The ailing Ashcroft refused because of concerns about its legality, according to testimony by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee this week that the visit was not related to the wiretapping program and there was no disagreement within the administration about it.

Mueller strongly suggested otherwise when asked about the meeting by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas.

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Posted at 10:29 AM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Bush Administration, James Comey, John Ashcroft, Robert Mueller, Senate
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July 26, 2007

Rove Subpoenaed As Specter Slams Dems' Special Prosecutor Request

UPDATED.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has ordered President Bush's chief political aide, Karl Rove, to testify in the U.S. attorney firings investigation. One of Rove's aides, Deputy Political Director J. Scott Jennings, was subpoenaed as well.

It is doubtful the White House will allow Rove and Jennings to testify under oath before the panel. The administration has used an executive privilege claim to rebuff Congress' demands for access to testimony and documents related to the firings.

But the evidence gathered so far by the committee has convinced a great many observers that the firings were politically motivated. Several longtime Bush allies have joined the chorus calling for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' ouster.

The Senate panel has yet to join its counterpart in the House in citing uncooperative White House or DOJ officials for contempt. To move past the executive privilege claim that will undoubtedly come in response to Rove's subpoena, the Senate committee will have to do so.

Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy said that the White House's refusal to accommodate Congress was an indictment in itself.

"It is obvious that the reasons given for these firings were contrived as part of a cover-up and that the stonewalling by the White House is part and parcel of that same effort," the Vermont Democrat said in a statement. "This stonewalling is a dramatic break from the practices of every administration since World War II in responding to congressional oversight."

The White House, as per usual, dismissed the subpoenas as a meaningless political stunt.

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Posted at 3:47 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Arlen Specter, Attorney Scandal, Charles Schumer, Congress, James Comey, Patrick Leahy, Paul Clement, President Bush, Senate
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June 07, 2007

Attorney Firings: Cheney Squeezed Justice On Spy Program

The G-8 summit, the presidential campaigns, the immigration proposal and Paris Hilton (gulp) are sucking up all the oxygen in the news cycle. In another week, maybe, the latest development in the U.S. attorney firings saga wouldn't have been buried.

In written answers to questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee, former Deputy Attorney General James Comey spelled out the strongest case yet that pushback on the warrantless wiretapping program in 2004 came directly from Vice President Dick Cheney.

In testimony before the committee last month on the abrupt firing of eight U.S. attorneys, Comey revealed surprising new details about DOJ's resistance to the controversial surveillance program implemented at the direction of the White House following the 9/11 attacks. Comey said that he and other top DOJ officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller, had decided to resign if the White House didn't agree to amend the program. Comey's testimony also revealed for the first time that former Attorney General John Ashcroft, a favorite villain of civil libertarians, had deemed the program illegal as well.

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Posted at 7:10 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, Dick Cheney, James Comey, John Ashcroft
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May 22, 2007

Leahy & Specter Seek More Documents On Wiretap Program

Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Arlen Specter, R-Pa., again asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales today for information about the justifications for the warrantless wiretapping program, saying his response so far has been "wholly inadequate."

The request followed testimony last week by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who revealed that the Justice Department had concerns about the legal basis for the program and refused to certify it for a period of time in 2004. Comey testified that Gonzales and former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card had approached then-Attorney General John Ashcroft while he was hospitalized, seeking his approval to renew the program.

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Posted at 3:30 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, Congress, James Comey
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May 18, 2007

Comey & Ashcroft: A Dramatic Re-Enactment

Last night, "The Daily Show" aired a pretty hilarious dramatization of Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card's late-night visit to an ailing John Ashcroft in the hospital in 2004. (Details of that visit can be found here.)

Not to be outdone, the folks at our sister publication Hotline have their own re-enactment. Enjoy.

Posted at 2:35 PM
Posted to: Attorney Scandal, Bush Administration, James Comey, John Ashcroft, President Bush
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May 15, 2007

Comey: Gonzales Pressured Ashcroft On Surveillance

UPDATED.

The White House bypassed a resistant Justice Department on its controversial domestic surveillance program three years ago, according to a former No. 2 at the department.

Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who was the top aide to then-AG John Ashcroft, told members of the Senate Judiciary Committee today that White House officials also sought to go over his head and appeal to a hospitalized Ashcroft -- even though Ashcroft's condition made Comey the acting attorney general at the time.

Comey described a late-night visit to Ashcroft's hospital room by Andrew Card, then the White House chief of staff, and Alberto Gonzales, then the White House counsel. Alerted by Ashcroft's wife, Comey and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller raced to the hospital, anticipating that Card and Gonzales would try to coax Ashcroft into approving the surveillance program.

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Posted at 6:37 PM
Posted to: Alberto Gonzales, Attorney Scandal, James Comey
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