Iglesias: Ashcroft Was ‘Pushed Out’ Because He ‘Refused To Sign Off On The Warrantless Wiretaps’
Iglesias: Ashcroft Was ‘Pushed Out’ Because He ‘Refused To Sign Off On The Warrantless Wiretaps’
In March 2004, then-acting Attorney General James Comey refused to sign an order extending President Bush’s warrantless domestic spying program “amid concerns about its legality and oversight.” Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee in May 2007 that the White House tried to force John Ashcroft to overrule him despite the fact that Ashcroft was debilitated in a hospital with pancreatitis.
“Attorney General Ashcroft then stunned me,” Comey told the committee. “He lifted his head off the pillow and in very strong terms expressed his view” that the program was questionable and that Comey held “the powers of the attorney general” at that moment:
“I was angry,” Comey told the panel. “I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man who did not have the powers of the attorney general.”
Now, former New Mexico U.S. Attorney David Iglesias — who was fired by the administration for refusing to file bogus voter fraud charges — tells the Dallas Morning News that Ashcroft’s refusal to support the warrantless wiretapping program actually led to him being “pushed out” of the Bush administration:
IGLESIAS: The one really intriguing question I’ve had was from a book buyer a few months ago who asked whether I thought John Ashcroft had been pushed out or not after he refused to sign off on the warrantless wiretaps. That’s something that a journalist has never asked me. The honest answer is, yes, that had Ashcroft done the wrong thing, the unconstitutional thing, and signed off on it, he’d probably still be the AG. But Ashcroft served honorably. He did the right thing, and he paid the price. He was asked to move on.
After the visit to Ashcroft’s hospital bed by then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales and then-White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Bush reauthorized his warrantless wiretapping program without Justice Department certification that it was legal, which led Ashcroft, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and several other top Justice Department officials to threaten to resign. Bush then agreed to unspecified changes to the program
When Ashcroft resigned from the Bush administration in November 2004, he claimed that he was leaving because he believed the Justice Department would be “well served by new leadership and fresh inspiration.” He was succeeded by Alberto Gonzales, who potentially lied to Congress in order to defend the wiretapping program.
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TP, please try to pay more attention to your headlines. The headline to this article implies that Iglesias knows that Ashcroft was pushed out because he wouldn’t sign off on the program. The article itself makes clear that it is an opinion voiced by iglesias in response to a question.
I know, I know, it’s not that big a deal. but TP should be better than that.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pmI’m not sure I would go so far as to say that Ashcroft “served honorably.” But it does affirm the perception of the Bush Department of Justice as a den of partisan inequity.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:17 pmActually it was the continual prayer meetings and the demand for $8,000 curtain to cover up Ms Liberty’s breasts.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:23 pmBush reauthorized his warrantless wiretapping program without Justice Department certification that it was legal
Which makes plenty of sense , seeing as how everyone knows what a knowledgeable Constitutional scholar Chimpy has always been throughout his useless existence……………………..
July 14th, 2008 at 1:23 pmPerhaps if more Department Heads had the backbone to defy bush it would have been a better administration.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:24 pmThat’s what he gets for not being a loyal Bushie!
July 14th, 2008 at 1:24 pm“potentially lied to Congress” . . . please spare us the qualifications. “Lied to Congress” – Not once, not twice, not even three times – but countless times. Lied.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:24 pmYou know Bush is morally bankrupt when his own neocon minions won’t go along with his plans.
Too bad Ashcroft didn’t do the right thing and speak out against this. Not that it would have swayed Congress to actually do anything.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:26 pmHere I just thought it was because he wouldn’t “dance”
July 14th, 2008 at 1:32 pmLet the Eaaagggle Soooaar…
July 14th, 2008 at 1:38 pmIt is difficult to imagine, or believe, that Ashcroft did something good, or that the person describing the “good thing” that Ashcroft did, is one of the same ilk that is responsible for a variety of crimes perpetrated by US Attorneys taking orders from the administration.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:39 pmDoes anyone really believe this nonsense? These are people installed by a criminal to help in the perpetration of criminal acts by the government. Should we be impressed by the varying levels of crime and criminals and judge people on the basis of someone willing to do the deed, now talking about how good a fellow criminal is?
people, if you believe this, you believe anything.
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Article I, Sec. 9 says:
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July 14th, 2008 at 1:40 pmDuring the Administration’s meetings on torture wasn’t it Ashcroft who objected? Not to the prospect af actually torturing brown people but at holding the meeting inside the White House. Coupled with his reluctance to sign off on Bush’s illegal spying program it seems Ashcroft’s feet were starting to get a little cold. THIS scaredycat is the one in the inner circle that I would approach with an immunity deal for providing evidence against Bushco. He was present at the torture meetings and has detailed inside knowlege of the illegal spying programs. No Johnny, not willing to talk? Don’t worry I’m sure they’ll save a seat for you at the War Crimes Tribunals!
July 14th, 2008 at 1:48 pmMr. Comey, I don’t know if I would go so far as to call Ashcroft’s actions as AG “honorable.” Perhaps in this one instance the man displayed some decency and respect for the rule of law.
We all have our moments, I suppose. This was Ashcroft’s.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:49 pmliberal traitor Says:
“Perhaps in this one instance the man displayed some decency and respect for the rule of law.”
I don’t think respect for the law had anything to do with it. It was his fear of being found out and prosecuted for abetting the Bush Crime Syndicate that was his driving factor.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:54 pmRepublican pledge:
I pledge allegiance to the fear
Of the United States of Paranoia
And to the Republicans
For which it stands
One nation, under terror
With liberty and justice for those that can afford it
GET THESE FEAR MONGERING TERRORISTS OUT OF OUR GOVT!
July 14th, 2008 at 1:55 pmOf course when Ashcroft decided to obey the law he was still under pain medication. Probably if he had his mind clear he would have gone along with his buddy.
July 14th, 2008 at 1:59 pmNow if only we could get more “book buyer’s” on T.V., radio, newspapers, and Congress, then we could finally get some answers.
RIP
July 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pmSGT Stephen R. Sherman
C CO 1-5 In (STRYKER)
KIA 3 Feb 2005
Mosul, Iraq
.
Q U E S T I O N:
Can Congress, on the behest of the president, pass ex post facto legislation that violates the Fourth Amendment?
Is it legal when the president signs into law, bills that blatantly violate the Constitution of the USA?
.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pmI read the article. I do not know where Iglesias would have had the inside information to make that statement. He is making a supposition as to what happened. However, absent being involved in the actual decision making or having been so informed by someone in the loop or by Aschcroft, he would not have personal knowledge. I love TP but it is wrong in phrasing it as TP did.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:03 pmAshcroft may have lied less than Gonzales, does that make him ‘good’?
After all, he did lose an election to a dead man…
July 14th, 2008 at 2:26 pmThe Bush Whitehouse is nothing more than a den of iniquity.
July 14th, 2008 at 2:32 pmAshcroft had integrity? Who knew? He hid it well (behind the same material he covered the Goddess of Justice?)
July 14th, 2008 at 2:37 pmTelling me what integrity Ashcroft had because of a correct decision he once made (when he was stoned)is like telling me how much one admired Hitler because he loved dogs. Nor do I consider Iglesias a paragon of virtue just because he got fired by an asshat.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:04 pmLemme see — Ashcroft was “pushed out” because he didn’t march in lockstep with the criminals while stoned out of his gourd.
Wow — they’re harsh.
July 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pmBut a fair segment of our Democratic Congress rolled over on its back for the program and showed its yellow belly.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:31 pmEvery time I hear David Iglesias talk about his firing as USAtty, I have to wonder just how corrupt, how crooked, how criminal, really, are those 100 or so political hack/DoJ appointees who didn’t get fired? The Siegelman thing in Alabama is one prominent case. They’ve had almost a decade to screw around and hide their tracks. I think it safe to say that no matter the outcome of the ‘election’ in November, there are official and bureaucratic ‘neo-con bombs’ planted in every office of Govt.
July 14th, 2008 at 4:49 pmQ U E S T I O N:
Can Congress, on the behest of the president, pass ex post facto legislation that violates the Fourth Amendment?
Is it legal when the president signs into law, bills that blatantly violate the Constitution of the USA?
Sounds like questions for a constitutional law scholar, innit?
Sen. Obama, would you care to respond?
July 14th, 2008 at 4:51 pmHell! And all this time I thought Ashcroft was let go for singing pop songs and refusing to sing country.
July 14th, 2008 at 5:57 pmLet’s be clear here before this a$$wipe drops dead and the concern trolls show up…
A$$croft did NOTHING to stand up against the bullsh|t this admin was promoting…he is another very useless traitor and RePugniScum…oops, I’m being redundant…
The moron could write a book if he phucking cared!! But, he doesn’t give 2 sh|ts about democracy or the working class!!!
Trolls, I’m saying this while he’s alive and I will say it when he’s dead…totally useless…traitor bastard!!!!
And I hope his family reads this over and over again!!!
July 14th, 2008 at 7:06 pmWhen will there be enough evidence to impeach?
July 14th, 2008 at 7:21 pmNever a judge to convict!
July 14th, 2008 at 7:22 pmIglesias thinks the right thing was to remain quiet and let this criminal administration continue to operate?
Was the right thing for Democrats to confirm Gonzales?
When are we going to have representation in Congress that is loyal to the Constitution and not to their fellow partisans in their respective political parties?
July 14th, 2008 at 8:38 pmThe hospital scene sounds like it came right out of “The Rise and Fall of The Third Reich.”
Does anybody know any German folk songs?
July 15th, 2008 at 5:25 am