Bush White House Pressured Justice Department for Terror Powers
Fmr. Justice official claims Bush administration pushed for wide terror powers.
May 15, 2007 — -- In riveting Senate testimony that one Republican senator said had "some characteristics of the Saturday Night Massacre," the former No. 2 man at the Department of Justice testified Tuesday about the lengths the White House went to in 2004 to get the reauthorization of the administration's terrorist surveillance program, even though top Justice officials advised against such action.
At one point during the reauthorization process, two of President Bush's top officials secretly visited then Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was in an intensive care unit suffering from a severe case of pancreatitis, and pressured him to change his mind.
Hearing the testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said the story was a "shocking one," adding "it almost makes you gulp."
The story was told by James Comey, who served as the deputy attorney general from 2003-2005.
Comey recounted how in March of 2004, he and Ashcroft discussed their concerns about the "legality" of the program and decided that the Department of Justice would neither certify it nor support its renewal because legal advisers could not find an adequate legal basis for the program.
Hours after making that decision, Ashcroft was rushed to the hospital into intensive care and Comey was made acting attorney general.
With Ashcroft absent from all deliberations, Comey told the White House that the Department of Justice would "not certify the program," according to Comey.
Comey then testified to his utter shock that as he was headed home one night six days later he learned that -- without informing him -- then White House Chief of Staff Andy Card and then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales planned to visit the hospital and talk to Ashcroft even though Comey was serving as acting attorney general during Ashcroft's illness.
Comey immediately told his security detail to change course, flash the emergency lights on their vehicle and divert directly to the hospital.
