Sometimes the people we villify

Bumrush99

Diamond Member
Jun 14, 2004
3,334
194
106
Wow!!!


This story really sickens me. I can't believe how secretive and irresponsible this adminstration has been. One lesson I think we have learned over the past 16 years, between Clinton and Bush- We should change our national saying from Give me liberty or give me death to: Give me split government or give me death

Words can not describe the levels of coercion and ineptitude this adminstration has been a party to, thank god for split government. Unreal

For those to lazy to click the link:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey disclosed new information Tuesday concerning attempts by the White House to get Justice Department approval for the National Security Agency's domestic surveillance program.

Comey also said he had considered resigning after disagreements about the surveillance program.

Calling it "the most difficult time in my period of life," Comey discussed publicly for the first time a hospital visit then-White House chief of staff Andrew Card and then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales made to Attorney General John Ashcroft on March 10, 2004. (Watch Comey describe Ashcroft's response during the hospital visit )

Ashcroft had become sick the week before, and Comey had been designated the acting attorney general.

Comey refused to say publicly that the White House officials came to the hospital to discuss the NSA program. However, government officials previously confirmed to CNN that Comey had "vigorously opposed" aspects of the surveillance program and refused to sign off on its continued use, prompting Card and Gonzales to make the hospital visit.

Comey's revelations came before the Senate Judiciary Committee as part of its investigation into the firing of eight U.S. attorneys last year.

In his testimony Tuesday, Comey recounted Ashcroft's wife calling a Justice Department official that night informing her Card and Gonzales were on their way to see Ashcroft. She had banned all outside phone calls and visitors, Comey said.

He immediately headed to the hospital and soon after he got there, the White House officials entered. He said Ashcroft, who had been weak from gall bladder surgery, "very strongly expressed himself" regarding his objections to a classified program, but added that his views didn't matter because he was, temporarily, not the attorney general.

'An effort to take advantage of a very sick man'
Comey said Card and Gonzales then left the hospital room without acknowledging him.

"I was very upset. I was angry. I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general because they had been transferred to me. I thought he had conducted himself -- and I said to the attorney general -- in a way that demonstrated a strength that I had never seen before, but still I thought it was improper," Comey told the committee.

Comey told the committee that he and Ashcroft the week before had determined the classified program he declined to name Tuesday should not be authorized and had communicated that to the White House.

Comey said some time after the hospital visit he got a call from Card, who was very upset, asking him to come to the White House. He responded that after what he had seen, he would not meet with White House officials without a witness and said he wanted to bring Solicitor General Ted Olson.

Later that night, Comey said, he did go to the White House, but he said the issue was not resolved then.

Program authorized without Justice Department approval
Comey said the program was reauthorized the next day without a Justice Department signature, and he then prepared a letter of resignation. However, he said he did not hand that letter in because the Justice Department's chief of staff asked him to delay it until Ashcroft could also resign.

The Justice Department later declined to comment on Comey's testimony.

"We cannot comment on internal discussions that may or may not have taken place concerning classified intelligence activities," said Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd. "As the Attorney General indicated earlier this year, any electronic surveillance that was being conducted pursuant to the [Terrorist Surveillance Program] is now being conducted subject to the approval of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Court."

Card told CNN he had no comment on the information. A spokesman for Ashcroft also declined to comment.

Ashcroft turned in his resignation in November 2004; Comey announced his resignation in March 2005.

Comey then told the committee about separate meetings he and FBI Director Robert Mueller had on March 12, 2004, with President Bush. Comey met with the president first, he said, but would not disclose what was said during their meeting.

After Mueller's session with President Bush, Mueller told Comey the president had given them "direction to do the right thing," Comey said Tuesday. "We could certify its legality and then set out to do that," he said, in reference to altering the NSA program so that it satisfied the Justice Department's requirements for legality.

Gonzales has been accused of removing the U.S. attorneys because of partisan concerns that they were either not doing enough to prosecute Democrats on voter fraud charges or doing too much in pressing corruption charges against Republicans. The White House denied the charges.

Gonzales has appeared before the Senate and House Judiciary committees as members of Congress investigate the accusations


 

Lemon law

Lifer
Nov 6, 2005
20,984
3
0
I have said for quite some time that Ashcroft may have been a nut but he still kept politics out of the Justice Department. What Comey said formally today has long been known, but this is the first time its been formally verified. Compared to Gonzales, Ashcroft is almost eligible for sainthood.

And we now know who is to blame as the ultimate source of corruption---GWB&co. who know know bounds on how low you can go.
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
87,456
54,224
136
Yeah I generally agree with that. Ashcroft was a crazy off the end social conservative, and a huge enabler of the patriot act. Both of these things are bad things, and reasons why I wish he had never been Attorney General. Compared to Gonzales though? Sweet jesus, I get a little teary eyed because I miss the guy.

Gonzales is probably the largest turd to have ever occupied that office, and that's a spot with a lot of competition. If I have EVER seen a candidate for impeachment in my entire life it is Gonzales.
 

GrGr

Diamond Member
Sep 25, 2003
3,204
0
76
Originally posted by: eskimospy
Yeah I generally agree with that. Ashcroft was a crazy off the end social conservative, and a huge enabler of the patriot act. Both of these things are bad things, and reasons why I wish he had never been Attorney General. Compared to Gonzales though? Sweet jesus, I get a little teary eyed because I miss the guy.

Gonzales is probably the largest turd to have ever occupied that office, and that's a spot with a lot of competition. If I have EVER seen a candidate for impeachment in my entire life it is Gonzales.

Gonzales is only a tool - a legal torpedo.

 

wirelessenabled

Platinum Member
Feb 5, 2001
2,191
41
91
Originally posted by: eskimospy
Yeah I generally agree with that. Ashcroft was a crazy off the end social conservative, and a huge enabler of the patriot act. Both of these things are bad things, and reasons why I wish he had never been Attorney General. Compared to Gonzales though? Sweet jesus, I get a little teary eyed because I miss the guy.

Gonzales is probably the largest turd to have ever occupied that office, and that's a spot with a lot of competition. If I have EVER seen a candidate for impeachment in my entire life it is Gonzales.

I was going to write something like this .... but you have said it better than I could:thumbsup:
 

Craig234

Lifer
May 1, 2006
38,548
350
126
The comments seem fair, with strong criticism of Ashcroft in areas and giving him credit where it's due - though we sure could have used this being exposed, too.

One thing I'll give him apparent credit for is naming the Justice Department building after Robert Kennedy - I'm curious what the backstory is there.
 

First

Lifer
Jun 3, 2002
10,518
271
136
Boy, this administration is just a disgrace to America's good name. An absolute disgrace. May none of these goons ever occupy any seat of power or have any influence over any position in power in Washington til the end of their days.
 

Jhhnn

IN MEMORIAM
Nov 11, 1999
62,365
14,684
136
Lots of people were apparently willing to sacrifice principle to stay on the Team...

Morals, Values, Honor and Dignity be damned, right?
 

Thump553

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
12,836
2,620
136
I saw that article in this morning's paper. I will eat crow and admit I was wrong in my previous evaluation of Ashcroft-he does have some principles after all. Gonzales (who appears so reasonable in his interviews, unlike Ashcroft) - it is becoming quite clear that he is a devious political operative of the worst nature. I shudder when I think how close he made it to a Supreme Court nomination.

-Jeers to the national press for not exposing this crisis years ago.

-And a mild cheer to GWB for not following the example of his role model, Richard Nixon, in defusing what could have been Saturday Night Massacre II.
 

Phokus

Lifer
Nov 20, 1999
22,994
779
126
Originally posted by: Jhhnn
Lots of people were apparently willing to sacrifice principle to stay on the Team...

Morals, Values, Honor and Dignity be damned, right?

Hey, the bush administration is just bringing back honor and integrity back to the whitehouse like they said they would








:barf;
 

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
Originally posted by: Lemon law
I have said for quite some time that Ashcroft may have been a nut but he still kept politics out of the Justice Department. What Comey said formally today has long been known, but this is the first time its been formally verified. Compared to Gonzales, Ashcroft is almost eligible for sainthood.

And we now know who is to blame as the ultimate source of corruption---GWB&co. who know know bounds on how low you can go.

You know, I think there was some kind of precedent set for this kind of stuff after WW2...
 

db

Lifer
Dec 6, 1999
10,575
292
126
I will say it for those too timid to say it (tho I don't believe it):
"I still believe the Bush Administration is doing the right thing."
The present (and former, ie Wolfie) Bush people are fanatical reactionaries who refuse to stop their insane agenda in spite of common sense, the public sentiment, and world opinion. God save our republic!
 

conjur

No Lifer
Jun 7, 2001
58,686
3
0
And if this isn't cause for immediate impeachment of King George, I don't know what is:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/05/15/comey/index.html
In addition to blocking Comey and Ashcroft's testimony about these matters throughout all of last year, the Bush administration -- led by Bush himself -- single-handedly blocked an investigation into the role played by DOJ lawyers in authorizing the NSA program by extraordinarily refusing to grant security clearances to DOJ investigators in the Office of Professional Responsibility. That investigation -- had it proceeded -- would have encompassed an examination of whether DOJ lawyers acted unethically in authorizing the program.
 
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