Damages sought from Verizon for turning over phone records to the NSA in a new federal lawsuit filed on behalf of customers.
Fox News Host On NSA Story: Wall Street Won’t Let A ‘Puny Little Traitor…Take Down Our Market’
The Dow was down 120 points today, prompting Fox News’ David Ruder to suggest it was because USA Today made “the country less safe” by running its story on NSA’s data mining.
But Fox News host Brenda Butler disagreed, saying that Wall Street would “not going to let some puny, little traitor, some leaker who went ahead and compromised our national security, take down this, take down our market, take down our country.” Watch it:
Full transcript below: Read more
NSA Whistleblower To Expose More Unlawful Activity: ‘People…Are Going To Be Shocked’
CongressDaily reports that former NSA staffer Russell Tice will inform the Senate Armed Services Committee next week that not only do employees at the agency believe the activities they are being asked to perform are unlawful, but that what has been disclosed so far is only the tip of the iceberg. Tice will tell Congress that former NSA head Gen. Michael Hayden, Bush’s nominee to be the next CIA director, oversaw more illegal activity that has yet to be disclosed:
A former intelligence officer for the National Security Agency said Thursday he plans to tell Senate staffers next week that unlawful activity occurred at the agency under the supervision of Gen. Michael Hayden beyond what has been publicly reported, while hinting that it might have involved the illegal use of space-based satellites and systems to spy on U.S. citizens. “¦
[Tice] said he plans to tell the committee staffers the NSA conducted illegal and unconstitutional surveillance of U.S. citizens while he was there with the knowledge of Hayden. “¦ “I think the people I talk to next week are going to be shocked when I tell them what I have to tell them. It’s pretty hard to believe,” Tice said. “I hope that they’ll clean up the abuses and have some oversight into these programs, which doesn’t exist right now.” …
Tice said his information is different from the Terrorist Surveillance Program that Bush acknowledged in December and from news accounts this week that the NSA has been secretly collecting phone call records of millions of Americans. “It’s an angle that you haven’t heard about yet,” he said. “¦ He would not discuss with a reporter the details of his allegations, saying doing so would compromise classified information and put him at risk of going to jail. He said he “will not confirm or deny” if his allegations involve the illegal use of space systems and satellites.
Tice has a history for blowing the whistle on serious misconduct. He was one of the sources that revealed the administration’s warrantless domestic spying program to the New York Times.
You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers.
The telcos may be liable for tens of billions of dollars for illegally providing your phone records to the government. We explained why on ThinkProgress yesterday. Many of you had questions. We’ve posted the answers here.
Gingrich on NSA Phone Records Program: Administration’s Conduct Can’t ‘Be Defended By Reasonable People’
The disclosure of the NSA’s domestic call-tracking program has drawn criticism from some of Bush’s key allies:
House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH): “I am concerned about what I read with regard to NSA databases of phone calls.”
Rep. Deborah Pryce (R-OH): “While I support aggressively tracking al-Qaida, the administration needs to answer some tough questions about the protection of our civil liberties.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC): “The idea of collecting millions or thousands of phone numbers, how does that fit into following the enemy?”
Last night on Fox, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich added his name to the growing list of bipartisan critics of the program. Watch it:
I don’t think the way they’ve handled this can be defended by reasonable people. It is sloppy. It is contradictory, and frankly for normal Americans, it makes no sense to listen to these three totally different explanations.
Full transcript below: Read more
Federal agents raid the home and office
of Kyle “Dusty” Foggo, who stepped down as Porter Goss’s handpicked executive director of the CIA and is under investigation in the Cunningham scandal.
Highlights From Tony Snow’s First Press Gaggle
New White House Press Secretary Tony Snow held his first gaggle this morning. Here are some highlights:
“Can’t comment on national security issues.”
“You’ll forgive me, but I’ll do the talking points on this as the new kid on the block. I’m not fully briefed into everything. I hate to read from a sheet of paper.”
“For today, I am not going to handle international issues or currency issues. I do not wish to set off global tempests. I frankly just don’t know enough on those.”
“I thought this would be nice and congenial and it is obviously just a mess.”
After his performance, ABC’s Chief White House correspondent, Martha Raddatz, described Snow as “a smoothie.”
UPDATE: TPMmucracker has the full transcript.
Tony Snow holds his first gaggle
63%.
Percentage of Americans who think its acceptable that the “National Security Agency has been collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans,” according to a new Washington Post/ABC News poll.
Matthews on Rove Indictment: ‘It Could Be Today’
MSNBC’s Chris Matthews appeared was on Don Imus’ show this morning and said that Karl Rove could be indicted today.
Transcript:
MATTHEWS: If, however, something happens with Karl Rove, we’re going to go to general quarters around here.
IMUS: What does that mean?
MATTHEWS: Meaning we will be taping probably on Saturday or late night because everything will change. Last time, when he picked up Scooter, when he nailed him 30 years of charges, that happened on 1:00 on a Friday. So we don’t know when it might happen, if it’s going happen.
IMUS: Are we expecting something with Karl Rove today?
MATTHEWS: Well, it could be today. It could be next week. Everybody is buzzing about when or if. It’s a big if, big when. There is a lot of talk because he is still being interviewing by the special prosecutor. He keeps being hauled before the grand jury. So something is going on here with the special prosecutor. We don’t know whether he is going to clear him or nail him.
Last night, Matthews reported that the grand jury is meeting today. Raw Story reports that networks are staking out the courthouse.
