Hospital arm twisting to spy on Americans
Comey Breaks Silence: White House Tried To Force Incapacitated Ashcroft To Back Spying Program
In March 2004, President Bush’s warrantless domestic spying efforts were temporarily suspended after then-acting Attorney General James Comey refused to sign on to an extension of the program “amid concerns about its legality and oversight.”In his testimony today, Comey spoke for the first time about:
- The high-speed pursuit that took place when Comey learned that Card and Gonzales were on their way to see Ashcroft at the hospital;
- The hospital meeting, in which the seriously ill Ashcroft “stunned” Comey by lifting “his head off the pillow and in very strong terms” rejecting Card and Gonzales’ effort to have him reauthorize the spying program;
- Comey’s admission that he believed he had “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”;
- Andrew Card’s subsequent “very upset” call to Comey, in which Card claimed that he and Gonzales had visited Ashcroft “just…to wish him well”;
- The White House’s eventual agreement to suspend the warrantless spying in the face of a threat of mass resignations, including from FBI Director Robert Mueller and Attorney General Ashcroft
</em>Read it. If it wasn’t so junior league mafia, it would almost be funny. Except when you remember that these are high ranking administration officials browbeating a sick man into backing illegal spying on Americans. Then you hurl a bit in your mouth, which seems to occur rather frequently these days when you hear the word “Bush”…
