Comments on: Was Gonzales’ emergency hospital visit illegal?

By: rainyday

rainyday — Tue, 22 May 2007 01:14:52 +0000

#16 and #17: I’m with you. The reason this story resonates has nothing to do with where people talked about top secret program. The real story is that Bush asked his lackeys to do an end run to get DOJ approval of an illegal wire tapping program. When he didn’t get the signature he wanted, he went ahead with the program anyhow. This is Watergate to the third power.

But I have a question: The legality of her presence aside, Mrs. Ashcroft would be a great witness to verify that Bush put the hospital visit in motion. Has anybody asked her who phoned her from the WH? If she could answer that under oath to the SJC, we will have the “smoking gun.”

By: waldo

waldo — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:19:32 +0000

#37 is a name jacking, I did not post that comment.
I am henceforth abandoning the screen-name, you’re welcome to it, troll

By: j swift

j swift — Fri, 18 May 2007 15:29:55 +0000

From Comey’s testimony Comey actually prevented the discussion from taking place. So I don’t know if Gonzo and Card can be nailed for that, however he testified about an envelope. Did that envelope have docs that contained secret info? Did taking out into the public put that state secret at risk?

By: Jo-Ann

Jo-Ann — Fri, 18 May 2007 14:06:45 +0000

Jonathan Turley said on Countdown with Chris Matthews, that the illegality of the whole wiretap matter is the greatest impeachable offense in the history of any American Presidency. That man knows the issue, and is not an idealogue. That meeting in the hospital room doesn’t give Ashcroft a pass, because he had regularly reauthorized that illegal wiretap law,”apparently because he was too busy to actually understand it”. It just wasn’t written down before that time. Congress has the power to impeach. What are they waiting for?

By: trippin

trippin — Fri, 18 May 2007 13:37:34 +0000

Subpoena Ashcroft and if you get his hand on a Bible to swear, you’ll probably get the truth. Especially if you slather a big dollop of Crisco on his forehead first.

By: Kay

Kay — Fri, 18 May 2007 12:35:53 +0000

Isn’t EVERTHING done by EVERYONE illegal in the Bush Crime Cabal?

By: heyzeus

heyzeus — Fri, 18 May 2007 12:34:56 +0000

Very good question, #32, UpToLate!

By: Not Canadian

Not Canadian — Fri, 18 May 2007 12:18:21 +0000

Start the IMPEACHMENT hearings and let’s bring home the troops NOW.

By: the fly-man

the fly-man — Fri, 18 May 2007 10:51:19 +0000

Here is the other end of this equation folks. Read it and soak up all it’s goodness. The DOJ turned over to a plantiff actual copies of a wiretap that was made on conversations between a client and their attorneys. The law firm was in the US. This one is the one that won’t go away.Glenn wrote about this back in Sept. of LAST year.
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/09/another-major-nsa-legal-defeat-for.html

By: Perry Logan

Perry Logan — Fri, 18 May 2007 10:39:20 +0000

We’re going to have to get the Republicans out of America. It’s the only solution.

By: Ben Dover

Ben Dover — Fri, 18 May 2007 09:10:23 +0000

Since when has “illegal” stopped these creeps from doing anything?

By: UpTooLate

UpTooLate — Fri, 18 May 2007 07:22:03 +0000

Did Mrs Ashcroft Have Security Clearance?

It is clear from Comey’s testimony that she was present when the substance of the matter was discussed

By: OutSourced

OutSourced — Fri, 18 May 2007 07:00:39 +0000

I suspect Mr. Ashcroft, as Attorney General, had a wing to himself and that he was in one room on the wing, with an adjacent room turned into a “command center”. Presumably, that was for the use of his WH and other visitors, not the guy recovering from general anasthesia and abdominal surgery and on a morphine drip, who was still in ICU after nearly a week. Hell, heart patients barely stay in ICU a whole week.

Given the patient’s condition, that he had formally delegated authority to Comey (who was readily available), and his and Ashcroft’s prior refusal to re-authorize the “program(s)” as then constituted, it was blatantly unethical for Gonazales, acting as a lawyer on behalf of his client, to have attempted to get Ashcroft’s signature on anything, much less in his capacity as Attorney General. Ashcroft’s signature as AG would have been invalid.

Some blogger who’s a member should report Gonzales to the Texas Bar.

That whole line of questionable behavior is over and above any security issues.

By: Liuli

Liuli — Fri, 18 May 2007 06:30:37 +0000

Ashcroft doesn’t seem to have been in an actual hospital room:

SCHUMER: And the attorney general was — what was his condition? I mean, he had — as I understand it, he had pancreatitis. He was very, very ill; in critical condition, in fact.

COMEY: He was very ill. I don’t know how the doctors graded his condition. This was — this would have been his sixth day in intensive care. And as I said, I was shocked when I walked in the room and very concerned as I tried to get him to focus.

SCHUMER: Right. OK. Let’s continue. What happened after Mr. Gonzales and Card left? Did you have any contact with them in the next little while?

COMEY: While I was talking to Director Mueller, an agent came up to us and said that I had an urgent call in the command center, which was right next door. They had Attorney General Ashcroft in a hallway by himself and there was an empty room next door that was the command center. And he said it was Mr. Card wanting to speak to me.

It looks like they took over (at least) a wing, put him in the hallway and took over an adjacent room as the ‘command center’ for Ashcroft’s security detail.

The founders never envisioned self-importance of this magnitude.

By: JPark

JPark — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:24:56 +0000

It isn’t a blowjob, Eric. The press is already done with it.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:22:20 +0000

So much for Bush’s “classified information” excuse.

But will the press show more than a one-day attention span on this story? Doubtful.

By: JPark

JPark — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:13:05 +0000

#26 It gets tougher every day to be a satire troll doesn’t it? It is like the right TRIES to make it tougher.

By: Mr. President

Mr. President — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:10:29 +0000

Things seem slow tonight. I’ll check back tomorrow… maybe I’ll think of something stupid to say.

By: Mr. President

Mr. President — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:09:04 +0000

god damn it,

Errata: post #22) “your” should be “you’re”

By: JPark

JPark — Fri, 18 May 2007 05:08:15 +0000

Hehe, ok, Mr. P.