Mukasey: ‘I Don’t Know’ Whether Bush Has Violated FISA
Mukasey: ‘I Don’t Know’ Whether Bush Has Violated FISA
In today’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Attorney General Mike Mukasey refused to answer whether Bush had violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act under the Terrorist Surveillance Program.
Under questioning from Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), Mukasey said he “can’t contemplate” a situation where President Bush would assert “Article II authority to do something that the law forbids.”
Specter shot back, “Well, he did just that in violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act…didn’t he?” Mukasey continued to hedge:
MUKASEY:I think we are now in a situation where [that issue] had been brought within statutes, and that’s the procedure going forward
SPECTER: That’s not the point. The point is that he acted in violation of statutes, didn’t he?
MUKASEY: I don’t know whether he acted in violation of statutes.
Watch it:
Specter explained that the question was a no brainer, as FISA “expressly mandates you have to go to a court to get an order for wiretapping. There’s really no dispute about that.”
The New York Times famously revealed in 2005 that Bush has allowed spying “without the court-approved warrants ordinarily required for domestic spying.”
As the contentious FISA legislation moves forward in Congress, Mukasey’s flacking for the administration’s illegal surveillance is deeply unsettling.
Transcript:
SPECTER: Is there a legitimate argument that the President has Article II powers to undertake such conduct?
MUKASEY: There are a number of concepts in your question, including whether he has authority to undertake torture. Torture as you know is now unlawful under American law. I can’t contemplate any situation where this president would assert Article II authority to do something that the law forbids.
SPECTER: Well, he did just that in violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He did just that in disregarding the express mandate of the National Security Act to notify the intelligence committees, didn’t he?
MUKASEY:I think we are now in a situation where [that issue] had been brought within statutes, and that’s the procedure going forward.
SPECTER: That’s not the point. The point is that he acted in violation of statutes, didn’t he?
MUKASEY: I don’t know whether he acted in violation of statutes.
SPECTER: Well, didn’t he act in violation of FISA? Expressly mandates you have to go to a court to get an order for wiretapping. There’s really no dispute about that, is there?
MUKASEY: It required an order with regard to wire communications, when that was a surrogate for foreign communications — for domestic communications. When foreign communications became something that traveled by wire.
SPECTER: I’m not talking about foreign communications. I’m talking about wiretapping U.S. citizens in the United States. Terrorist Surveillance Program undertook to do that. Well, not getting very far there, let me move on to…
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January 30th, 2008 at 9:27 pm.
It seems that, like Gonzales, the top lawyers of this great country don’t know much about drawing legal conclusions… NO?
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January 30th, 2008 at 9:29 pmMr Mukasey, please pull your head out of your a$$ and do your f’in job. Enforce the goddamn laws including the constitution.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:43 pmMukasey’s flacking for the administration’s illegal surveillance is deeply unsettling.
Unsettling? Well, maybe. Surprising? Not even in the slightest. If you believed that Mukasey’s behavior as the Attorney General would be any different from Gonzales’s–based on his testimony during the confirmation hearings–I think you’d have to be nuts. Bush would never in a million years appoint an AG who would think and operate independently from his corrupt administration.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:44 pmThe Office of Attorney General must somehow damage the brain’s synapses, leaving it’s leader a mumbling mass of jello.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:44 pmUn-fricking-believable.
How can you tell when a Republican is lying?
When it is breathing.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:46 pmNo shit it’s unsettling, we have “part two” of a Bush tool who will throw sand in the gears of justice to protect his precious FAILURE of a commander in chief.
More dry-humping from congress. When will anybody from this syndicate ever get the deep shagging that they deserve…… Oops, now I remember, NEVER, because Nancy set the table and forgot the impeachment utensils.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:49 pmPathetic.
This useless bastard (MuckAssy) was brought to you by Chuck The Schmuk Shumer (D-Israel) the traitor DemoRat!!
With friends like Chuck The Schmuk who’s needs RePugniScums!!
January 30th, 2008 at 9:50 pmOK, we’ll give 48 hours to obey the law, or we start IMPEACHING YOU, get it? Saying ‘I don’t know..’ is called ‘lieing to Congress’..because he does know. Bush and cheney must have pictures of him naked to hold over his head.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:54 pmEverybody is getting blackmailed. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:59 pmSexpionage politics!!!
January 30th, 2008 at 10:18 pmMukasey is using the Nuremburg defense. You’d think he’d be ashamed of himself but he is obviously a man without a shard of honor or integrity.
An apologist for war crimes and crimes against the citizens of America.
-GSD
January 30th, 2008 at 10:19 pmFrom the WA Post, Aug 18, 2006:
January 30th, 2008 at 10:21 pm“Ruling in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups in the Eastern District of Michigan, (Judge)Taylor said that the NSA wiretapping program, aimed at communications by potential terrorists, violates privacy and free speech rights and the constitutional separation of powers among the three branches of government. She also found that the wiretaps violate the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the 1978 law instituted to provide judicial oversight of clandestine surveillance within the United States.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp-dyn/ content/ article/ 2006/ 08/ 17/ AR2006081700650.html
It’s all such a game. Maybe somebody will realize what they’ve done after we totally lose the constitution. Very depressed tonight. I think it’s over. We can all shut up and go away because nobody in congress and certainly none of the candidates give a rat’s ass about we the people.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:26 pm“….Mukasey’s flacking for the administration’s illegal surveillance is deeply unsettling.”
And utterly predictable. If the guy had Obstructionist Toady tattooed on his forehead it couldn’t be any clearer. The guy is a place holding roadblock and he is doing the job he was hired to do perfectly.
Pick the dumbest non-answer to any question and you’ll have Mukasey’s response. He might as well just stay home. The entire exercise is farce.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:43 pmWaterboarding shmarterboarding.
Hey, I’ve got a crazy idea. How about we vote for someone who will bring some principles back into our government which we pay for and we elect?
Obama is the one to do it. Hillary has proven that she will not and cannot. Place your vote and read some more on this topic if you feel like it at http://www.dailykos.com/ storyonly/ 2008/ 1/ 27/ 14512/ 4399/ 221/ 444226
January 30th, 2008 at 10:46 pmJohn Edwards…the next Attorney General of the United States of America. Fu(king crooks had better leave now!
January 30th, 2008 at 10:49 pmThe entire exercise is farce.
Comment by burro — January 30, 2008 @ 10:43 pm
I feel like the whole f-ing country is a farce. This thing called USA will never get back on track without a lot of blood being spilled. I can see how some folks buy the whole delusional Jeebus thing, or drink themselves stupid, or pack up for Costa Rica.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:51 pmbushCO has used the “Terrorist Surveillance Program” to SPY on their
POLITICAL ENEMIES and THAT is an indisputable impeachable offense.
…
and they had to invent that program to cover those actions of
BEFORE the sept.11 “attacks”…
…
it’s so amazingly incredible that they are getting away with this shite.
January 30th, 2008 at 10:57 pm.
Mukasey: We both know he’s a criminal, but I’m not gonna’ say he’s a criminal - it’s not my job.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:03 pmMukasey is just another drone from the criminal administration. Therefore he is not fit for the position as AG. Not for a Banana Republic and certainly not for the USA. Mukasey should resign imediatly! He is no different than the corrupted Gonzo!
January 30th, 2008 at 11:05 pmAnother show for your entertainment. I’m not sure what Spector is up to here, maybe he’s angling for a larger piece of the pie.
http://www.senate.gov/ legislative/ LIS/ roll_call_lists/ roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00407
January 30th, 2008 at 11:13 pmdoes this senile old assclown actually know anything?? - doesn’t know if waterboarding is illegal - doesn’t know if wiretapping without a court order is illegal - i think i read somewhere the other day that he is “running down the clock” in his job as ag - what a f**king insult to americans and a disgrace in general
January 30th, 2008 at 11:18 pmOnce upon a time, I used to think that “snarlin Arlen” was a man of integrity.He proved me wrong time and time again by never following his supposed convictions.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:32 pmNow I can see the writing on the wall. With a 28% rate of incumbent republicants dropping out of the next race, it’s clear to me that the REAL money is in trying to go to the public sector as a lobbyist before the GOP implodes.
Good riddance to the lot of you. There is a special place in hell reserved for liars who profit from the suffering of those who they swore to protect.
Musk Rat is just acting dumb to protect his bosses. As long as a person can read they can answer the question. Musk Rat knows the answer but he’s been appointed to do just what he’s doing stall for time to end the Bush/Cheney term. Cheney has already made a 27 per cent profit for Halliburton as the US goes in recession. Musk Rat took the job for the extra retirement money he needs. As we have no Justice System anymore what difference does it make anyway. Musk Rat will just sit there and act like a fool while having his pockets lined with stolen money. All the Bush appointees are doing it and as you see the GOP Law Makers are bailing out as they get investigations reveal their criminal actions. The way things are going they could have kept Gonzales as Musk Rat is doing the same thing.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:38 pmMukasey: ‘I Don’t Know’ Whether Bush Has Violated FISA
Okay, well… isn’t that something that you might WANT to know?
No?
Oh, my mistake. I thought the Attorney General might be concerned with the Rule of Law. Apparently that’s a quaint notion around the White House these days.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:55 pmOff topic:
Here’s a great source of “anti-troll” arguments.
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/
January 30th, 2008 at 11:56 pmHe knows. Of course he knows. Anyone with a whit of understanding of the Fourth Amendment knows.
He just can’t say, or he’ll be ostracized from the circle of power.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:00 amSpecter: “The point is that he acted in violation of statutes, didn’t he?”
It would be nice if lawmakers were concerned about the President’s lawbreaking for reasons more substantial than simply playing a losing game of “Gotcha!” with a stonewalling Bush official.
Specter KNOWS that the President has broken the law. He as much as says so in this clip.
So why does Specter not DO something about it?
Never mind… I know the answer…
January 31st, 2008 at 12:15 amIt’s all a show. Why would anyone expect the truth out of the mouth of a Bush puppet. Specter knows it.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:26 amWhy even bother to report these stories?
Nothing will EVER be done about it anyway.
January 31st, 2008 at 12:51 am.
Mukasey = Gonzales-lite.
“It’s not a crime when a Republican president does it.”
Has Mukasey taken that same “secret” Oath to the President that Ms. Taylor did?
.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:04 amwhat’s the point of searching for truth, if there isn’t any?
the bush administration has single handedly proven that truth does not exist.
and that, folks, is a pretty darned fascinating step in our evolution.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:09 am“gonzales-light”?
um, not quite. this guy is HEAVY.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:10 amWonderful! We have an Attorney General that doesn’t understand the law well enough to know when it’s been violated. He must have gotten his law degree out of a Cracker Jacks box.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:21 amA∞Ω
January 31st, 2008 at 2:50 amwhat’s the point of searching for truth, if there isn’t any? -Darladoon
Life.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:50 amMukasey probably had to participate in a video shoot in a men’s room stall with Larry Craig to get the job in the first place, to be publicly released if he ever started making waves.
If Mukasey possessed even a scintilla of honor or integrity, Bush/Cheney would have never considered recommending him for the job in the first place. The same applies to Herr Schumer and Diane Not-So Feinstein, who are following in Holy Joe’s footsteps.
January 31st, 2008 at 2:59 amDefinitely an exchange worthy of only the mighty Fuzz Newzz.
They’re memorizing their lines for tomorrow right now.
January 31st, 2008 at 4:54 amThis Attorney General has a duty to the law first. If he can’t do the job, if he cannot decisively come down on crimes committed by the President a special counsel should be selected. But no, they resist this because in their hearts they know they won’t have time to go to the toilet while defending themselves against their war crimes and illegal domestic spying. Mukasey is just another Bush cronie. More of the same…blah, blah, blah.
January 31st, 2008 at 5:47 amI thought Mukasey was a lawyer? Guess he must have skipped a few classes…
January 31st, 2008 at 7:09 amSchumer and Feinstein share responsibility for installing another monster in the Attorney General’s chair. Impeach Cheney-Bush and vote out Schumer-Feinstein.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:18 amMukasey should be yanked for that single statement alone.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:46 amHe clearly does not know the law.
wow.
This is no surprise - it’s one of the reasons Bush appointed this radical Zionist (his wife Susan was one of the biggest fundraisers in New York for the illegal Jewish settlements on Palestinian land) to hide the torture. With his ties to Israel, he should be pretty good at this, as we’re seeing already.
It does not end and we are NOT powerless. Petras’ recent article titled US MILITARY AGAINST ISRAELI FIRSTERS shows that the Flag Officers are ready to act in defense of the Constitution and the American people.
Mukasey’s secrecy should surprise no one, it is on public record.
The widely expected nomination of a former judge, Michael Mukasey, as attorney general could draw fresh scrutiny of his role in authorizing the secret detention of an unknown number of men without criminal charges following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch denounced the detentions as “Kafkaesque.” The groups said prosecutors abused the material witness provisions to detain at least 70 men, often when they were suspected of crimes but evidence was lacking. Almost half were never bought before a court or grand jury to testify.
“I’m appalled at the choice,” a lawyer involved in one material witness case before Judge Mukasey, Randall Hamud, told The New York Sun yesterday. “In a sealed courtroom that has since been publicized, he kicked my co-counsel out of court. I told him my client had been beat up. He told me, ‘Your client looks okay. File a lawsuit in a couple of years.’”
Mr. Hamud said senators considering Judge Mukasey’s nomination should seek out the details of the hearings held behind closed doors in 2001. “The secrecy basically allowed him to run amok,” Mr. Hamud said. “They should review every one of those sealed proceeding transcripts and see what this man was doing from the bench. These weren’t criminal defendants. They were just witnesses.”
http://www.nysun.com/article/62750
Lets say that again to sink in:
We have a sitting president with the distinction of vetoing an anti-torture bill….
Congress can impeach Mukassey for this obstruction. Agree to an impeachment of the new AG.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:03 amIsn’t modern technology amazing?
January 31st, 2008 at 8:06 amThe way they can hide the puppet’s strings so that they are never seen?
We all saw this coming.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:25 amThanks, Chuck Schumer, for supporting this dissembler. See how honestly your good buddy answers every question? Exhibit A in why I will never vote for you again. You asked us to trust you, even though Mukasey was clearly being less than forthright in his testimony to Congress before his appointment. You took a chance with this clown and lost.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:28 amIf someone were to take an anonymous poll of all the Senators and Congress people and asked the simple questions, “Over the past 7 years has President Bush broken the law? Dick Cheney?”
January 31st, 2008 at 8:38 amMy bet is the poll would say “yes” somewhere around 100%
ALL these people either openly admit as much or at the very least will HINT, Republicans included, that this Administration has broken many laws and stretched many more nearly to the breaking point.
Pose the same question anonymously to ANY newscaster/reporter for the MSM and the result would be the same. Ask any of your Right-leaning friends/family and most will admit the same.
This Administration is fooling NO ONE and yet no ACTION is taken.
Do they (the Gov’t and the MSM) think no one is paying attention? These criminals deserve impeachment and prison AT THE VERY LEAST. IMHO these men should be hung for their treasonous acts against our Nation and our Constitution ON THE WHITE HOUSE LAWN ON THE 4th of JULY! THEN we could finally get down to repairing our Government and healing as a Nation that’s been raped on a daily basis for seven long years.
Mukasey is part of the NeoCon team that is destroying our country. We need national reconciliation. I’m afraid that the roots of our national disaster go all the way back to a horrible day in Dallas Tx.
Rent the movie, “The Good Shepherd” this weekend if you haven’t seen it.
I’m a former liberal democrat supporting Ron Paul and questioning everything . . .
January 31st, 2008 at 8:48 amWho is really going to reform our government?? We’ve got Clinton scandal fatigue redux already?!
Here are Clinton scandals that just hit the paper today. http://www.nytimes.com/ 2008/ 01/ 31/ us/ politics/ 31donor.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin http://abcnews.go.com/ Blotter/ story?id=4218509&page=1 We are getting Clinton scandal fatigue and the Primaries aren’t even over!
We’ve got a serious electability issue. After seven years of incompetent, corrupt government, America is extra sensitive to this type of stuff. Look what just happened to Rudy. This kind of baggage would weigh the Clintons way down in a run against McCain, who has always stood for cleaning up government.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:51 am#46, I’m a fellow New Yorker. I share your sentiments and will also vote for whoever isn’t Chuck Schumer in the next primary.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:55 amImpeach Cheney and Bush and Save the Constitution!
Folks, there are not two parties anymore. Its all one giant corrupt cesspool of scumbags covering each others back. They might look serious on camera, but behind the scenes they are all laughing their asses off. Vote out ALL incumbents and start over.
Congressional demorats are guttless wonders.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:41 am“I don’t know whether he acted in violation of statutes.”
but now it has “been brought within statutes”
So was it outside the statutes before?
January 31st, 2008 at 9:53 amDon’t you think you ought to find out?
I think the requisite RoboRepub(tm) response to this issue is either:
1) The … president … broke … no … laws.
or
2) I … don’t … care … if … he … broke … laws … he … is … protecting … us … all … from … giant … slavering … 900ft … radical … Muslim. GO … USA!!!
I forget which.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:56 amI remember thinking Reagan’s Ed Meese was the dumbest, worst attorney general ever. Then came John Ashcroft. Made Ed look better. Along comes Gonzales. Worse than Ashcroft. Then there’s Mukasey. Unbelievable. The Repubs really know how to pick ‘em!
January 31st, 2008 at 11:12 amThis guy read to Alberto Gonzalez playbook and isn’t going to deviate from it. He knows his job is on the line and that matter more to him than the fair exercise of justice. I’ve never seen so many so called patriotic Americans loose their morale when it comes to working for this corrupt administration. They couldn’t pay me to ruin my reputation for a job that’s only temporary. I mean come on how much is your reputation worth? I certainly would loose it over a guy with a 32 percent approval rating counting Republicans and Democrat voters. Apparently Mukasey is willing to sell his soul for twenty pieces of silver.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:25 amMeet the new boss…..same as the old boss. You get rid of a smirking
doughboy, and replace him with a grumpy grandpa. They’re still wired the same.
Sieg Heil
January 31st, 2008 at 11:27 amOh, crap. Evidently, he’s more deeply retarded than Alberto Gonzales.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:38 amSay, I have an idea: let’s waterboard the mofo and THEN see what he has to say.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:42 amTogether with refusing to call waterbarding torture, and the demand for telecom immunity, this is all just Tricky Dick’s “when the president does it that means that it is not illegal” redux.
We were on the road to impeaching that SOB when he resigned. How about it, Dems? Do you really need to wait for a BJ before acting?
Cheers,
January 31st, 2008 at 12:28 pmHow does this sound?
ATTORNEY GENERAL JOHN EDWARDS
was confirmed earlier today in the Senate.
President Barack Obama was pleased with the swiftness of the confirmation hearings
while
VICE PRESIDENT DENNIS KUCINICH added that he will be working closely with the new AG to make sure that all those guilty of violating the laws of our constitution will be held accountable and that no one is above the law.
what better way to insure that the black president doesn’t get assasinated by a reich-wing radical(s)?
January 31st, 2008 at 6:43 pm