|
printable version
- js reader version
- view hidden posts
- tags and related articles
by TH
Thursday, Jul. 26, 2007 at 2:19 PM
Sparking the ire of several members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales claimed on Tuesday that the controversial 2004 hospital visit he made to his predecessor, John Ashcroft, dealt not with the warrantless eavesdropping that the administration has confirmed but with an entirely different program.
The Hill
By Elana Schor
July 24, 2007
Under questioning by Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), the Judiciary panel’s ranking Republican, Gonzales appeared to contradict his past assertions about the May testimony of James Comey, former No. 2 at the Justice Department.
Comey told senators that Gonzales, then White House counsel, had pressured the hospitalized Ashcroft to grant legal approval to the National Security Agency’s (NSA) system of wiretapping suspected terrorists without a court order. Gonzales confirmed Comey’s account last month, but contradicted it on Tuesday.
“The disagreement that occurred, and the reason for the visit to the hospital … was about other intelligence activities,” Gonzales told Specter. “It was not about the terrorist surveillance program that the president announced to the American people.”
Specter appeared angrily skeptical of the reversal: “Do you expect us to believe that?” he asked Gonzales. Gonzales also sought to clarify his reasons for circumventing Comey, whom Ashcroft temporarily vested with the attorney general’s powers during his hospitalization.
“He could always reclaim that [authority],” Gonzales charged. “There are no rules.”
During Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s (D-Calif.) round of questioning, Gonzales appeared to revert back to his earlier acknowledgement that the standoff with Ashcroft had occurred over the NSA program. That wiretapping was brought under court supervision by the administration last year, though President Bush has reserved the right to restart it.
“You can’t tell me that you went up to see Mr. Comey for any other reason other than to reverse his decision about the terrorist surveillance program,” Feinstein said.
“OK, you are right,” Gonzales acknowledged, arguing that “we were confronting extraordinary circumstances where we had been advised that something that the department had authorized for two years, they would no longer continue to approve.”
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) pressed Gonzales further, setting off promises from several senators, including Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), to examine the public record for evidence that Gonzales perjured himself before Congress.
“This is serious, because it looks like you’ve deceived us,” Schumer told Gonzales.
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/senators-hammer-gonzales-on-ashcroft
If you would like to get caught up on the first part of this story click on the following link:
http://la.indymedia.org/news/2007/05/199415.php
Report this post as:
|
Local News
GUIDE TO REBEL CITY LOS ANGELES AVAILABLE
A12 5:39PM
lausd whistle blower
A10 11:58PM
Website Upgrade
A10 3:02AM
Help KCET and UCLA identify 60s-70s Chicano images
A04 1:02PM
UCLA Luskin: Casting Youth Justice in a Different Light
A02 11:58AM
Change Links April 2018
A01 11:27AM
Nuclear Shutdown News March 2018
M31 6:57PM
Join The Protest Rally in Glendale on April 10, 2018!
M29 7:00PM
Join The Protest Rally in Glendale on April 10, 2018!
M29 6:38PM
Spring 2018 National Immigrant Solidarity Network News Alert!
M19 2:02PM
Anti-Eviction Mapping Project Shows Shocking Eviction Trends in L.A.
M16 5:40PM
Steve Mnuchin video at UCLA released
M15 12:34AM
Actress and Philanthropist Tanna Frederick Hosts Project Save Our Surf Beach Clean Ups
M06 12:10PM
After Being Told He's 'Full of Sh*t' at School Event, Mnuchin Demands UCLA Suppress Video
M02 11:44AM
Resolution of the Rent Strike in Boyle Heights
M01 6:28PM
What Big Brother Knows About You and What You Can Do About It
M01 3:30PM
Step Up As LAPD Chief Charlie Beck Steps Down
F14 2:44PM
Our House Grief Support Center Hosts 9th Annual Run For Hope, April 29
F13 12:51PM
Don’t let this LA County Probation Department overhaul proposal sit on the shelf
F13 11:04AM
Echo Park Residents Sue LA Over Controversial Development
F12 8:51AM
Former Signal Hill police officer pleads guilty in road-rage incident in Irvine
F09 10:25PM
Calif. Police Accused of 'Collusion' With Neo-Nazis After Release of Court Documents
F09 7:14PM
Center for the Study of Political Graphics exhibit on Police Abuse posters
F07 9:50AM
City Agrees to Settle Lawsuit Claiming Pasadena Police Officer Had His Sister Falsely Arre
F04 3:17PM
Professor's Study Highlights Health Risks of Urban Oil Drilling
F04 12:42PM
Claims paid involving Pasadena Police Department 2014 to present
F04 10:52AM
Pasadenans - get your license plate reader records from police
F03 11:11PM
LA Times Homicide Report
F03 1:57PM
More Local News...
Other/Breaking News
What does the Quran Say About Islamic Dress??
A21 4:15PM
Biodiversité ou la nature privatisée
A20 11:22AM
The Market is a Universal Totalitarian Religion
A20 7:14AM
Book Available about Hispanics and US Civil War by National Park Service
A19 5:52PM
The Shortwave Report 04/20/18 Listen Globally!
A19 4:01PM
The Republican 'Prolife' Party Is the Party of War, Execution, and Bear Cub Murder
A19 11:48AM
Neurogenèse involutive
A18 9:21AM
Paraphysique de la dictature étatique
A16 10:13AM
Book Review: "The New Bonapartists"
A16 3:45AM
The West Must Take the First Steps to Russia
A14 12:25PM
Théorie générale de la révolution ou hommage à feu Mikhaïl Bakounine
A14 3:30AM
The Shortwave Report 04/13/18 Listen Globally!
A12 3:50PM
“Lost in a Dream” Singing Competition Winner to Be Chosen on April 15 for ,000 Prize!
A12 3:48PM
The World Dependent on Central Banks
A12 4:43AM
Ohio Governor Race: Dennis Kucinich & Richard Cordray Run Against Mike DeWine
A11 9:40PM
March 2018 Honduras Coup Again Update
A10 10:52PM
Apologie du zadisme insurrectionnel
A10 3:33PM
ICE contract with license plate reader company
A10 1:14PM
Palimpseste sisyphéen
A09 11:23PM
Black Portraiture(S) IV: The Color of Silence...Cuba No...Cambridge Yes
A09 5:32AM
Prohibiting Micro-Second Betting on the Exchanges
A09 4:18AM
Prosecutors treat Muslims harsher than non-Muslims for the same crimes
A08 10:33PM
Amy Goodman interview on cell phone safety
A08 10:29PM
Mesa, Arizona police officer kills unarmed white man
A08 9:50PM
Israeli leaders should be prosecuted for war crimes
A08 9:48PM
Paraphysique de l'autorité
A08 12:11AM
Two Podcasts on fbi corruption
A06 10:13PM
Fbi assassins assault & try to kill DAVID ATKINS
A06 7:29PM
More Breaking News...
|