I don't do many political posts but today's news brings a story that is just mind-boggling.
In testimony before the Senate yesterday, former deputy Attorney General James Comey provided more details about an incident that was downplayed for a number of years, but if there is any justice in the world (or, for that matter, in the Justice Department), will start to see the light of day.
On March 10, 2004, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was in the hospital after having just undergone emergency appendectomy surgery. He had put his deputy, Comey, at the head of Justice while he recovered. Comey had refused to sign off on a plan by Chief of Staff Andy Card and (wait for it) then-White House council Alberto "VO5" Gonzales, to continue a warrantless wiretapping program that had been going on for quite some time. Comey and DOJ lawyers concluded that the program was illegal and would not agree to it.
Comey is tipped off that Card and Gonzales had decided to do an end-around by going to Ashcroft in the hospital and get his sign-off on the plan. He gets his security detail to speed him to the hospital as fast as they can. They get there and he and his detail arrive at Ashcroft's side just before Card and Gonzales walk in.
The FBI acting director, Robert Mueller, calls and tells one of Comey's security detail that under no circumstances should they allow Comey to be removed from the room.
Ashcroft refuses to sign the plan. He points to Comey and points out that he is the acting Attorney General, and it should be taken up with him. Card and Gonzales don't even acknowledge Comey's presence in the room.
The White House continues with the plan, illegally, without the required signatures from DOJ.
Only after Ashcroft, Comey, and Mueller threaten to resign en masse, does the White House back down and take legal steps to continue the program.
And who is now the Attorney General? The same guy who tried to pull a fast one, and who then chose not to obey the law when the fast one didn't work.
By the way, beyond the politics and lawlessness of it all, it also serves to demonstrate that the show 24 isn't all that unrealistic when it comes to how it portrays Washington.
Great post on the controversy from Glenn Greenwald below (sorry, it's a Salon link, requires watching an ad before reading).
Comey's Testimony Raises New and Vital Questions...
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