Letters to the Editor

• O/T: Someone's listening

  [Read the article: The mainstream, sane, serious Joe Lieberman]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  And we might yet find out what those "other programs" were all about.

  Senate Democrats called for a perjury investigation against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Thursday and subpoenaed top presidential aide Karl Rove in a deepening political and legal clash with the Bush administration.
  
  

  Gonzales is at the center of the U.S. attorney controversy, but the call for a perjury probe involved alleged conflicts between testimony he gave the Judiciary Committee in two appearances, one last year and the other this week. The issue revolves around whether there was internal administration dissent over the president's warrantless wiretapping program.

  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070726/ap_on_go_co/congress_gonzales

  Permalink Thursday, July 26, 2007 10:10 AM

• What options?

  [Read the article: Various items]
  [Read more letters about this article: Here]

  Based on the contents of the letter from Schumer, et al., might they be asking for investigation into more winnable perjury accusations? They haven't limited the request to the illegal wiretapping program:

  The scope of the special counsel’s jurisdiction should include the veracity of the Attorney General’s testimony before Congress related to issues including the replacement and removal of U.S. Attorneys, the implementation of the PATRIOT Act’s provisions relating to U.S. Attorneys, and the authorization for the NSA wiretapping program. It should examine whether misleading statements have been made to Congress and the public, and whether potential charges should be filed involving obstruction of justice, perjury, and false statements. http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2007/07/text-of-senate-letter-calling-for.html

  What options members of Congress have at this point? It's not only the Senate Intelligence Committee that is still waiting for information about the program...

  Comment Of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On Bush Administration’s Request For Extension Of Subpoena Deadline On Warrantless Wiretapping Documents

  July 17, 2007

  “The Judiciary Committee is willing to accommodate reasonable requests and to work with the Administration on its response to these subpoenas. I hope the White House uses this additional time constructively to finish gathering the relevant information and then works with us in good faith on ways to provide it so that we will have the information we need to conduct effective oversight at long last.

  “Congressional oversight is necessary to determine whether this Administration has conducted itself appropriately in carrying out and defending the President’s warrantless surveillance program. The Judiciary Committee’s inquiry into the legal justification for the surveillance program is essential to performing its legislative and constitutional oversight responsibilities.”

  From letter to Rep. Heather Wilson, dated July 24, 2007, from the House Intelligence Committee chairman, regarding statements surrounding her introduction of FISA legislation on that date:

  I strongly object to your suggestion that our Committee is not addressing this matter. As you well know, we have held four closed hearings on this topic in the last several weeks, as well as numerous staff briefings and meetings with Administration officials to identify solutions. But we are unable to gather the requisite facts because the Administration is refusing to comply wit the bipartisan document request that Mr. Hoekstra and I made to the Administration on May 31.

  http://intelligence.house.gov/Releases.aspx?A=63

  The administration will continue to block Congressional investigations and push FISA revisions. All the while and once again they'll use fear tactics and tell us that the Democrats are "soft on terror." It's getting very difficult to see a light at the end of this tunnel.

  Permalink Friday, July 27, 2007 05:42 PM