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Title: Hatch sides with committee Democrats in subpoena of White House, Cheney's office (COMMITTEE VOTE 13-3)
Source:
Salt Lake Tribune (AP)
URL Source: http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6242634
Published: Jun 27, 2007
Author: Laurie Kellman
Post Date: 2007-06-27 16:09:00 by aristeides
Keywords: None
Views: 101
Comments: 6
Hatch sides with committee Democrats in subpoena of White House, Cheney's office By Laurie Kellman Article Last Updated: 06/27/2007 01:14:45 PM MDT Posted: 1:14 PM- WASHINGTON -- The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday for documents relating to President Bush's controversial eavesdropping program that operated warrant-free for five years. Also named in subpoenas signed by committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., were the Justice Department and the National Security Council. The four parties have until July 18 to comply, according to a statement by Leahy's office. The committee wants documents that might shed light on internal disputes within the administration over the legality of the program, which Bush put under court review earlier this year. "Our attempts to obtain information through testimony of administration witnesses have been met with a consistent pattern of evasion and misdirection," Leahy said in his cover letters for the subpoenas. "There is no legitimate argument for withholding the requested materials from this committee." Echoing its response to previous congressional subpoenas to former administration officials Harriet Miers and Sara Taylor, the White House gave no indication that it would comply. "We're aware of the committee's action and will respond appropriately," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said. "It's unfortunate that congressional Democrats continue to choose the route of confrontation." In fact, the Judiciary Committee's three most senior Republicans - Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, former chairman Orrin Hatch of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa - sided with Democrats on the 13-3 vote last week to give Leahy the power to issue the subpoenas. The showdown between the White House and Congress could land in federal court. Leahy's committee and its counterpart in the House have issued the subpoenas as part of a sweeping look at how much influence the White House exerts over the Justice Department and its chief, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. The probe, in its sixth month, began with an investigation into whether administration officials ordered the firings of eight federal prosecutors, for political reasons. The House and Senate Judiciary committees previously had subpoenaed Miers, one-time legal counsel, and Taylor, a former political director, in that probe. But with senators of both parties already concerned about the constitutionality of the administration's efforts to root out terrorism suspects in the United States, the committee shifted to the broader question of Gonzales' stewardship of Justice and his willingness to go along with the wiretapping program. The Bush administration secretly launched the spy program, run by the National Security Agency, in 2001 to monitor international phone calls and e-mails to or from the United States involving people the government suspected of having terrorist links. The program, which did not require investigators to seek warrants before conducting surveillance, was revealed in December 2005. After the program was challenged in court, Bush put it under the supervision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, established in 1978. The president still claims the power to order warantless spying. Debate continues over whether the program violates people's civil liberties, and the administration has gone to great lengths to keep it running with extensive presidential discretion. Piquing the committee's interest was vivid testimony last month by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey about the extent of the White House's effort to override the Justice Department's objections to the program in 2004. Comey told the Judiciary Committee that Gonzales, then-White House counsel, tried to get Attorney General John Ashcroft to reverse course and recertify the program. At the time, Ashcroft lay in intensive care, recovering form gall bladder surgery. Ashcroft refused, as did Comey, to whom Ashcroft had temporarily shifted the power of his office during his illness. The White House recertified the program unilaterally. Ashcroft, Comey, FBI Director Robert Mueller and their staffs prepared to resign. Bush ultimately relented and made changes to the classified program that the Justice officials had demanded, and the agency eventually recertified it. The fight was one of the most bitter disputes of the Bush presidency and questions remain over whether the program tramples people's civil liberties. The administration says the program is crucial to preventing more terrorist attacks. Fratto defended the surveillance program as "lawful" and "limited." "It's specifically designed to be effective without infringing Americans' civil liberties," Fratto said. "The program is classified for a reason - its purpose is to track down and stop terrorist planning. We remain steadfast in our commitment to keeping Americans safe from an enemy determined to use any means possible - including the latest in technology - to attack us." Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the subpoena to Gonzales is under review and that the department recognizes Congress' oversight role. "We must also give appropriate weight to the confidentiality of internal executive branch deliberations," he said. Majority Democrats and some Republicans are skeptical and have sought to find out more details about the program and how it has been administered. Leahy's panel is required to serve the subpoenas to specific people within the offices named. One is addressed to Gonzales, while the others are addressed to: David S. Addington, Cheney's chief of staff; White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, V. Phillip Lago, executive secretary of the National Security Council - or "other custodian of records" in their offices. The subpoenas themselves seek a wide array of documents on the program from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to the present. Among them are any documents that include analysis or opinions from Justice, the National Security Agency - which administers the program - the Defense Department, the White House, or "any entity within the Executive Branch" on the legality of the electronic surveillance program.
Associated Press
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#1. To: All (#0)
Committee vote of 13-3 means that, of the 9 Republicans on this highly partisan committee, three -- Specter, Hatch, and Grassley -- voted for the subpoenas, three voted against them, and three did not vote. Support by Senate Republicans for the administration seems to be vanishing.
To reason, indeed, he was not in the habit of attending. His mode of arguing, if it is to be so called, was one not uncommon among dull and stubborn persons, who are accustomed to be surrounded by their inferiors. He asserted a proposition; and, as often as wiser people ventured respectfully to show that it was erroneous, he asserted it again, in exactly the same words, and conceived that, by doing so, he at once disposed of all objections. - Macaulay, "History of England," Vol. 1, Chapter 6, on James II.
The subpoenas themselves seek a wide array of documents on the program from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to the present. Among them are any documents that include analysis or opinions from Justice, the National Security Agency - which administers the program - the Defense Department, the White House, or "any entity within the Executive Branch" on the legality of the electronic surveillance program. Yippee!
They are probably taking under consideration how they would look wearing tar and feathers.
Even having a debate relative to this issue demon-strates the absurdity and ignorance that consumes congress and the general population !
Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say 'what should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, plough, sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”
Ya know, they should probably Impeach the Bush brat before we have to hang him !
Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say 'what should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship, plough, sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!”
#2. To: aristeides (#0)
Leahy's panel is required to serve the subpoenas to specific people within the offices named. One is addressed to Gonzales, while the others are addressed to: David S. Addington, Cheney's chief of staff; White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten, V. Phillip Lago, executive secretary of the National Security Council - or "other custodian of records" in their offices.
Ron Paul for President
#3. To: aristeides. robin. all (#1)
#4. To: aristeides (#1)
Support by Senate Republicans for the administration seems to be vanishing.
Remember...G-d saved more animals than people on the ark. www.siameserescue.org
#5. To: aristeides (#0)
Debate continues over whether the program violates people's civil liberties,
#6. To: aristeides (#0)
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