Bush Goons Stalk Ashcroft In the Hospital to Authorize Illegal Program

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Bush Goons Stalk Ashcroft In the Hospital to Authorize Illegal Program

Posted May 15th 2007 3:27PM by Cenk Uygur
Filed under: Breaking News, Scandal, George Bush, Young Turks, Republicans, U.S. Attorneys, Alberto Gonzales, Crime

Former Deputy Attorney General, James Comey gave some damning testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee today. He explained how the White House sent Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card to the hospital to intimidate John Ashcroft into going along with a program that the Justice Department thought was illegal.

Here's how Comey described the situation in the hospital that night:

"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."

The New York Times has the dramatic details of that night as recounted by Jim Comey. The story is complete with security details being set on alert that they might be confronted by other executive branch officials. This goes to show how little regard the Bush White House had for the law. They were told their warrantless wiretapping program was not legal and they refused to accept that determination to the point of risking an inter-executive branch standoff.

Jim Comey then contemplated whether he should resign if the Bush administration insisted on breaking the law. He told the Senate, "I couldn't stay, if the administration was going to engage in conduct that the Department of Justice had said had no legal basis."

He was going to resign along with John Ashcroft until the Bush administration gave in and changed parts of the program. But before they gave in, the White House reauthorized the program for some time without Justice Department approval! This White House wanted to engage in actions that were so clearly illegal that John Ashcroft was going to resign. That's unbelievable. There are only about three people in the country to the right of John Ashcroft.

Jim Comey is no prize either. He has argued for keeping Jose Padilla an "enemy combatant" without constitutional rights even though he is a US citizen. Comey then went along with a warrantless wiretapping program that is still wildly illegal. It is in clear violation of the 1978 FISA law that says the government must get a court order before wiretapping suspects. I can't imagine how much more illegal it must have been in its original form for Comey and Ashcroft to protest this much.

This administration has shown over and over that it has no regard for the rule of law. Read these stories and remember these are among the most conservative people in the country telling you this. This goes to the same point that is true for almost everything this administration does -- they are not conservatives, they are radicals. They don't believe in our system of government. They are the most dangerous and un-American people we have ever had in the White House.

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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)

1. The wiretap program was legal, constitutional and necessary for the protection of the country. If the deputy AG did not reauthorize the program he should have been fired.

Greg at 6:20PM on May 15th 2007

2. Mis-fits are in any organization, Jim Comey is one of them. To imply that Alberto Gonzalez and Andy Card are "Bush's Goons" for going to the hospital to see John Ashcroft to "intimidate him" is ludicrous. John Ashcroft is not a man that can be initimidated anyway, even if he was on his death bed, which he wasn't. Get a life people, and quit your witch hunting. You're wasting a lot of time trying to smear good people for no reason but for your own entertainment. Pathetic.

Jean at 8:36PM on May 15th 2007

3. Have you all been hitting the crack stem?
what they are doing is very much illegal. Wake up! You have lost your rights. This administation has been illegal FROM THE FIRST SECOND OL' asshole/criminal/murder bush took the oath of office, which by the way, says that he swears to uphold the constitution. He has done anything BUT UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION!!! WAKE UP! America died 1/20/2000. It is no longer our country! It is time to take America back from these criminals by any means necessary! ANY MEANS! Is this the country we want to leave to our children and grandchildren?

goon at 10:27AM on May 16th 2007

4. As Ben Franklin, that pinko commie founding father, once stated:those willing to sacrifice liberty for security will achieve neither. I do not want to see America go down the path toward dictatorship. Based on some of the comments many of you are already well down that road.

Mark at 1:07PM on May 16th 2007

5. Goon - You need to relax. I don’t think there is any doubt that Bush is doing what he thinks is best for the country. He believes his policies are both constitutional and necessary and he has put forth an argument for his reason. When you say “It is time to take America back from these criminals by any means necessary! ANY MEANS! Is this the country we want to leave to our children and grandchildren?” you are saying more about your own irrationality then anything about the President.

Mark - While that quote from Franklin is good to hear I don’t think it has much place in the modern world. Today there is enormous destructive power in the hands of a few terrorists. We need to give up some of our freedom in order to protect ourselves. We, for example, give the government the right to search all of us without warrants before we enter airplanes. Are we wrong to do that? Will that lead to dictatorship? Of course not. The key is to strike a reasonable balance between the security needs of the nation and the need to preserve the freedom of the American people. The Bush administration decided it was necessary to listen in on phone conversation of potential terrorists abroad even if one party to the conversation was in the United States. When faced with the potential of terrorist strikes in the United States I think that is a necessary step. The fact that the intrusion on Americans is extremely limited makes it reasonable.

Greg at 2:38PM on May 16th 2007

6. Wow Greg, I suppose we should just chuck the constitution while we are at it. Not much relevance to the modern world and all. I enter a plane voluntarily. If I don't want to be searched I don't fly. I also know they are doing it at the time. There is a procedure for gaining the warrants for phone taps. Even Ashcroft understood that. You may want to have an administration run roughshod over the constitution. I don't. I will continue to fight this and any other offences of unconstitutional actions. Again as Franklin commented "we have a Republic, If we can keep it." I see which side you are on.

Mark at 6:40PM on May 16th 2007

7. Mark - I agree that the president should abide by the constitution. I believe his wiretap authorizations were constitutional. Remember the Constitution does not require warrants for searches only that they be reasonable. There are several cases where courts have recognized the constitutionality of warrantless searches including automobile searches, stop and frisk searches, exigent circumstances and airports just to name some. In deciding that these are constitutional courts balance the governmental need against the intrusion to the individual. When balancing the great need to protect America against international terrorism against the very limited intrusion presented by these wiretaps I don’t thing there should be any question that these searches were legal.

Greg at 7:19PM on May 16th 2007

8. Greg, not to beat a dead horse here. But if you read the article you know that there were very serious questions as to whether these searches were legal. I mean his own justice dept thought otherwise. This admin is constantly operating in secracy and acts as if it is above the law. It has been batted down by the courts more than once.

Again, the question isn't whether you think this program was legal that is the court's perogative (Glad we still have one). Fortunatly the clock is running on this most lame of lame duck presidencies.

Always happy to agree to disagree. I forget who said it but it goes like this "I might not agree with what you say, but would fight to death for your right to say it." Otherwise we become our enemies.

Mark at 7:43PM on May 16th 2007

9. One of the most interesting details in James Comeys story is that he apparently felt Ted Olson was on his side of the argument against warrentless wiretapping. If any one would have a desire to go to any lengths to catch terrorists, you'd think a guy whose wife died on 9/11 would be the one. But even he could not justify this breach of the Constitution by this White House. If Ted Olson and John Ashcroft are against you, how conservative are you, really?

Phillip Fears at 1:03PM on May 18th 2007

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Mo Rocca appears on a bunch of shows, including CBS News Sunday Morning (with the indescribably wonderful Charles Osgood), The Tonight Show on NBC, and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He's a sometime judge on Iron Chef and was featured on Telemundo's Amore Descarado. Last year he starred on Broadway in the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His expose "All the President's Pets" was published by Crown in 2004.