Chips starting to fall?

Back in May 2007, James Comey was testifying to the Senate Judiciary Committee about his time as acting Attorney General while AG James Ashcroft was in a hospital bed after surgery (we wrote about it HERE, HERE, HERE and HERE).

During his testimony, Comey laid out the now-infamous “bed-side visit” to John Ashcroft by Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales. The due had gone to see Ashcroft so he could order the reauthorization of Bush’s surveillance program.

During the testimony, Comey laid out the possibility that “President” Bush had called Ashcroft’s wife to tell her that Card and Gonzales were on their way to the hospital.

At the time, Bush said of his involvement; “There’s a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn’t happen. I’m not going to talk about it.”

Whilst that is a classic Bush(whacked) Administration tactic, it wasn’t a denial… and now we may know why it wasn’t a denial.

The Atlantic’s Murray Waas wrote last week that Gonzales is now telling investigators that Bush was directly involved.

From Waas' article;

According to people familiar with statements recently made by Gonzales to federal investigators, Gonzales is now saying that George Bush personally directed him to make that hospital visit. … Gonzales has painted a picture of Bush as being very much involved when it came to his administration’s surveillance program.

Hmmmmm, very interesting.

Add this to the fact that current Attorney General Michael Mukasey announced today that he’s naming a special prosecutor to investigate AttorneyGate, and you have the makings of “President” Bush facing some serious questioning after he leaves office.
Stay tuned…

The Weekly Rewind

In this corner, weighing in at a staggering debt load of over $8 trillion, and bloated with two-faced beaurocrats, in the black trunks, the Bush Administration. And in this corner, in the White Trunks, two guys who are not quite so much in debt, and are out to open the eyes of the willing everywhere, the “Bush”-Whacked Administration. Now let’s get ready to Rewinnnnnnnnnnnnnnd!!

Sorry folks just felt a little bit of an attitude coming on.

Heckle: We’ll send you there, but once you’re there, you’re on your own. U.S. Embassy employees in Iraq are growing increasingly angry over what they say are inadequate security precautions in the heavily fortified Green Zone. Most staff members still sleep in trailers that one described as ‘tin cans’ that offer virtually no protection from rocket and mortar fire. The government has “refused to harden the roofs because of the cost”, one employee said. When will the various agencies in our government get treatment for their Cranial-Rectal Inversion and start to take care of our people serving overseas?

Heckle: to opening mouth and inserting foot….or, just another day in the life of a conservative. House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) yesterday defended the decision to place scandal-plagued Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA) on the Appropriations Committee. “Where do you draw the line?” Boehner asked. “We do not want a blanket allegation to rise to the level of credibility where we are basing our decisions on it. It’s unfair.” Hmmmm, I think we draw the line at appointing corrupt or possibly corrupt officials in positions of authority…..just a thought….

Heckle: to President Bush on principles alone.

Heckle: to once again proving that this administration acts before it thinks, and then has to back track and look stupid. The White House confirmed yesterday that the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad is likely to meet in the next several weeks with Iranian officials about stabilizing Iraq, as the administration embraces a tactic outsiders have long recommended as essential to reducing sectarian violence in Iraq. Ok, we didn’t do the job right to begin with, we know you are causing trouble for us and are a main supporter of violence against us and we should do something about it, but we have lost face in the world, other countries laugh at our sabre rattling, but we want to talk and make nice…. we still hate you, but we acknowledge the power that you have in the region…..do I need to continue?

Heckle: to the sheer stupidity of a statement. Afghanistan now produces 92 percent of the worlds opium. Bush administration officials acknowledge that until recently, “fighting drugs was considered a distraction from fighting terrorists.” The problem has become so severe that American officials now “hope that Afghanistan’s drug problem will someday be only as bad as that of Colombia.” And remind me again how our ‘War on Drugs’ against Columbia is oh so succesfull ……

Heckle: to diverting funds from our deserving troops. Nearly two dozen officials who received hefty performance bonuses last year at the Veterans Affairs Department sat on the boards charged with recommending the payments. Remember all those stories about how well things are at Walter Reed, and how the VA is on the cutting edge of Technology and taking care of our troops…..I’ll continue while you keep thinking…

Heckle: to Alberto Gonzales, on principles alone, and this week also due to the allegations of former Deputy AG James Comey.

Applaud: to Bill Maher. As we’ve said before on this site, it’s not often we applaud him, but sometimes he nails it. Case in point:

New Rule: You can’t send the National Guard to Iraq and then claim it’s still here. The helicopters, the Humvees, the men…Like Dorothy and Toto, they’re not in Kansas anymore. Sorry Mr. President, but the last documented case of a National Guardsman able to be in two place at one time…was you.”

Well said Bill….

Heckle: to the continued raping and pillaging of the average American. “Households are spending about $1,000 more per year for gasoline than they were just five years ago, an 85 percent increase” according to consumer groups’ analysis prepared for the House Judiciary Committee. “In the past five years the oil industry has picked consumers pockets for 200 billion in excess profits,” said the Consumer Federation of America. Next time you fill up remember that it’s too expensive to build a new refinery, or that many Oil Company CEO’s are taking home $100 million + a year….remember that as the pump passes $50 or $75 while you are filling up….

Applaud: to not quietly taking what bones the administration is willing to throw. The Justice Department on Wednesday told an angry Senate Judiciary Committee chairman it does not have documents described in a subpoena that demands all materials relating to Karl Rove’s possible involvement in the U.S. attorney firings. Instead, it said, “ Rove’s lawyer must have them.” And if there is nothing to hide, why haven’t they been turned over….??

Applaud: to more from Gore…. Al Gore will release his new book The Assault on Reason next week. Gore tells Time that he began questioning why “our democracy hasn’t responded” to both the climate crisis and the Iraq war. “So I started thinking, What’s going on here? … Our democracy was pushed around by false impressions and wasn’t able to hold its focus,” he says. “That’s the common denominator. Once I’d thought through all of that, I couldn’t not write this book.” Does anyone else think that the contry may be better served with Mr. Gore in a Whistle Blower, serving the public interest kind of way? In that capacity he is beholden to no one….

Heckle: to more of the same old stuff. Several senators have urged President Bush to withdraw his nomination of Michael Baroody — a corporate lobbyist picked to lead the Consumer Product Safety Commission — saying the candidate was “unqualified and the appointment posed insurmountable conflicts of interest.” Am I the only one that sees this as the Fox guarding the Hen House?

This one does not qualify for either an Applaud or a Heckle. Earlier this week the Senate passed a bi-partisan bill that would make the estimated 12 million plus illegal immigrants currently in the United States eligible for legal status. Some of the main provisions are that they would have to pay a fine, wait a certain period of time, and return first to their country of origin, to then enter the country legally. The bill also contained a provision to allow ‘new’ U.S. citizens to sponsor relatives for immigration using a complicated point system that rewards points based on certain competencies. Among these are if someone is a skilled/educated worker, as well as the ability to speak English. The better you are the more points you get. Right away people on both sides of this issue are crying foul. Liberals are complaining about the fines, Conservatives are complaining about this bill granting ‘amnesty’ to illegals. This story is far from over….

Well there you have it. Not too many applauds (of course), but enough heckles to go around. Don’t worry we will have more heckles next week. Until then…

Be good, stay informed…..later.

The story, and the cover-up, continues...

Considering that neither ABC nor CBS have, according to Media Matters, aired one single story about the testimony of James Comey, I refuse to let this story die on this blog.

It’s a given that Card and Gonzales broke any and all bounds of decency, civility and decorum in their sick-bed confrontation with John Ashcroft… but now there’s more and more talk about if their nighttime hospital raid broke the law.

Neil Katyal, the Georgetown law professor who served as a national security advisor in Bill Clinton's Justice Department told Time magazine, “Executive branch rules require sensitive classified information to be discussed in specialized facilities that are designed to guard against the possibility that officials are being targeted for surveillance outside of the workplace.”

Katyal went on to say that “The hospital room of a cabinet official is exactly the type of target ripe for surveillance by a foreign power.”

According to Time magazine, the law controlling the unwarranted disclosure of classified information gained through electronic surveillance is very, very strict. In the past everyone from low-level officers in the armed forces to sitting Senators have been investigated by the DOJ for the intentional disclosure of such information, and the penalty for “knowingly and willfully” disclosing information “concerning the communication intelligence activities of the United States” carries a penalty up to 10 years in prison under U.S. law.

Will Gonzales and/or Card be charged with anything?

I doubt it… a spokesman for the National Security Division of the Justice Department was asked about the legality of the hospital conversation and if either of them could be charged with a crime, he declined to “speculate on discussions that may or may not have taken place.”

Translation: No, he won’t be charged with anything as long as George Bush is in the White House.

So even as gop support for Gonzales wavers and more republicans join in the chorus to have him ousted… the cover-up continues.

We need to be told the truth

The more I read about James Comey’s testimony earlier this week, the more questions I have…

Such as; when one considers that John Ashcroft is one of the staunchest republicans to ever walk this earth, and he was against this program being renewed… you have to ask yourself what the hell the program was doing that it turned a tried and trued republican to go against the wishes of a republican president?

Secondly, what exactly is “President” Bush’s role in this distasteful little tale?

The New York Times wrote today that “Americans need to know” who dispatched Gonzales and Card to Ashcroft’s hospital bed, but the “President” is eluding the question.

At a White House press conference this morning, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell asked Bush about his role;

“Sir, did you send your then Chief of Staff and White House Counsel to the bedside of John Ashcroft while he was ill to get him to approve that program, and do you believe that kind of conduct from White House officials is appropriate?”

“Kelly, there's a lot of speculation about what happened and what didn't happen, and I'm not going to talk about it.”

Ok… then I’ll take that as a yes until I hear a better answer.

If Bush indeed ordered Card and Gonzales to visit Ashcroft in the hospital and make him sign something that he wasn’t legally able to sign, then Bush is complicit in any possible wrongdoings and needs to be held accountable… and it certainly seems that “President” Bush was engaged in a prolonged and willful effort to violate the law, and would have continued if senior members of his own administration forced him to stop by threatening resignation.

Regardless of Bush’s involvement in this pathetic drama though, the long and short of it is that it is high time that the Democrats in Congress blow the fucking lid off of the NSA’s surveillance program (They also need to force Gonzales out the door as well, and Senator’s Chuck Schumer (D-NY) & Dianne Feinstein’s (D-CA) plan to seek a no-confidence vote on Gonzales is definitely a step in the right direction – but that’s an entirely separate post)

Whatever form the domestic spying program took over those past years was so blatantly illegal and so egregious that by 2004 not even the administration’s most republican members could stomach it any more.

We have a right to know what went on… and we deserve to know.

A Disturbing Saga

The story that came out of James Comey’s testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday is, if nothing else, disturbing.

To summarize a long story, Comey was acting Attorney General in early 2004 after John Ashcroft was hospitalized. Long story short, Comey was hesitant to reauthorize the NSA domestic spying program. Then-White House COS Andy Card and then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales literally went to Ashcroft’s hospital room, shortly after he had had surgery, in order to get him to approve the program and override Comey’s decision.

Ashcroft, naturally groggy after surgery, balked… and led the White House to approve its own domestic surveillance program despite DOJ objections.

The scene unfolded like a movie:

Comey learned, Ashcroft's wife who was at his bedside, that Gonzales and Card were on their way to the hospital. He immediately ordered his driver to turn around and head to the hospital with sirens blazing. He calls the head of the FBI, Robert Mueller, who promised to meet him at the scene. Comey gets out of the car and literally runs up the stairs to Ashcroft's room. The head of the FBI orders the agents outside Ashcroft's door to not allow Comey to be removed from the room under any circumstances. Comey tries to explain the situation to a clearly groggy and disoriented Ashcroft, but mnutes later, Gonzales and Card arrive entering the room with papers in hand, without acknowledging Comey's presence. After hearing Gonzales' spiel, Ashcroft finds the strength and temporary focus to sit up and coherently explain to Gonzales why the program is illegal. He then says that it doesn't matter what he thinks anyway because he, at the time, was not the Attorney General and he points to Comey and said; “he's the Attorney General.” Card and Gonzales storm out of the room and soon thereafter Comey gets a call from an irate Card who demands that he come to the White House. Comey tells him: “After what I just witnessed, I will not meet with you without a witness, and I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States," with which Card replied; “What conduct? We were merely there to wish him well.”

You can read the whole transcript HERE.

But the story didn’t end there as the “sickbed visit” was only the beginning of a tense and dramatic showdown between the White House and the Justice Department. According to Comey, the issue was only resolved after Bush overruled Gonzales and Card, and that didn’t happen until Ashcroft, Comey, Mueller and their aides prepared a mass resignation.

Which also suggests that the NSA’s domestic spying program went of for several weeks without DOJ approval.

That’s disturbing and stressing enough, but also consider how John Ashcroft was eventually replaced by one of the men that tried to convince him to sign an important legal document that contradicted the reasoned legal opinion of the Justice Department and whom had neither the official authority nor the legal capacity, due to his heavily-medicated state, to sign.

Think about that for a second. This man essentially took advantage of a man who had just had surgery… and that “man” is now our Attorney General.

What an absolute fucking disgrace…

So what can we take from this example of a pathetic and desperate man?

For starters, that Alberto Gonzales acted in a manner that is, at the very least, ethically questionable. Not only was Gonzales trying to circumvent James Comey's lawful authority as the acting AG, but he was also looking to have a person who had just had major surgery the day before and was heavily-medicated, execute a legal document… a very important legal document at that. Sounds to me that that is something that can get attorney disbarred.

Another? The implication that Robert Mueller didn’t trust Card nor Gonzales as he gave instruction to the agents outside Ashcroft's room to not allow Comey to be removed, implying that he was worried about what could happen in the room if there weren’t ant witnesses. Good to know that someone who didn’t have the trust of the FBI director would become the U.S. Attorney General, which I think speaks volumes about Gonzales and the way he does things and the person he is.

And finally, that the White House was willing to authorize a program that the Justice Department, including the Attorney General, the Deputy Attorney General, the head of the OLC, and the FBI Director, had determined to be illegal.

But as startling as it was to hear this story, there’s something else we shouldn't forget…

We shouldn’t forget that we, the American people, should have known about this story a long, long time ago…