Comey Details Wiretapping Meeting

Comey Details Wiretapping Meeting

thelede.blogs.nytimes.com

An extraordinary meeting in March 2004 in the hospital room of Attorney General John D. Ashcroft has been reported before. Today, Mr. Ashcroft’s deputy, James B. Comey, recounted the meeting for the first time.

Two of President Bush’s most senior aides — Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales — sought the meeting to seek reauthorization of an important program, Mr. Comey said. Although Mr. Comey would not acknowledge it today, it was clear he was referring to the National Security Agency’s eavesdropping program.

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Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Turning a blind eye to an impeachable offense.
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[edit on 15-5-2007 by UM_Gazz]

This just shows the lengths that Bush & Co will go to to get what they want. I was no fan of John Ashcroft, but to have Card and Gonzales try to use his illness as a way to get their spy program approved.. well, as I said these people will go tp any lengths. And now, the White House will not even promise that it will seek approval for wiretaps from the secret court that was set up for that very purpose.

So much for democracy and the bill of rights. I hope that the Senate calls Gonzales back to answer for this. My opinion is that both he and the administration, including the president and vice president are guilty of violating the Constitutional rights of it's citizens.

thelede.blogs.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Update

This just in from the NY Times; more information on the testimony of James Comey, former Assitant Attorney General under John Ashcroft, on how the administration pushed through their NSA civilian spy program in 2004.

WASHINGTON, May 15 — President Bush intervened in March 2004 to avert a crisis over the National Security Agency’s domestic eavesdropping program after Attorney General John Ashcroft, Director Robert S. Mueller III of the F.B.I. and other senior Justice Department aides all threatened to resign, a former deputy attorney general testified Tuesday.

Mr. Bush quelled the revolt over the program’s legality by allowing it to continue without Justice Department approval, also directing department officials to take the necessary steps to bring it into compliance with the law, according to Congressional testimony by the former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey.

Although a conflict over the program had been disclosed in The New York Times, Mr. Comey provided a fuller account of the 48-hour drama, including, for the first time, Mr. Bush’s role, the threatened resignations and a race as Mr. Comey hurried to Mr. Ashcroft’s hospital sickbed to intercept White House officials, who were pushing for approval of the N.S.A. program.

Describing the events as “the most difficult of my professional career,” Mr. Comey appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of its inquiry into the dismissal of federal prosecutors and the role of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Several lawmakers wanted to examine Mr. Gonzales’s actions in the N.S.A. matter, when he was White House counsel, and cited them to buttress their case that he should resign.

Mr. Comey, the former No. 2 official in the Justice Department, said the crisis began when he refused to sign a presidential order reauthorizing the program, which allowed monitoring of international telephone calls and e-mail of people inside the United States who were suspected of having terrorist ties. He said he made his decision after the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, based on an extensive review, concluded that the program did not comply with the law. At the time, Mr. Comey was acting attorney general because Mr. Ashcroft had been hospitalized for emergency gall bladder surgery. NYTimes