Just to summarize for those who missed it. The bulk of Comey's appearance was taken by Schumer, getting Comey to explain what happened on March 10, 2004. Office of Legal Counsel had told Comey there was no legal justification for parts of the NSA Domestic Spying Program. Comey briefed Ashcroft on it, and they agreed that they could not reauthorize the program in its current form. When Comey told that to Andrew Card, Card got pissed. That night, Comey got a call from his Chief of Staff, saying Mrs. Ashcroft had gotten a call at the hospital, saying Card and Gonzales were on their way over. Comey rushed to the hospital to try to prepare Ashcroft for what was about to occur. And then, in his drug induced state, Ashcroft refused to reauthorize the program, and said he wasn't AG anyway, Comey was acting AG.
The program was "reauthorized" anyway, w/o DOJ's blessing. For two weeks, according to Comey, it operated outside the rule of law (though one day after the hospital visit, Bush told Comey to "do what's right," so they started to put it in line with the law).
That night, Comey and a number of other DOJ staffers prepared their resignation, refusing to stay after they had been overridden.
Comey and Robert Mueller met one-on-one, in succession with Bush the following day, and Bush eventually agreed to fix the program.
One point Comey made. The biggest reason why Comey and Mueller were able to get Bush to change the program was because Bush was willing to meet with them privately. The unstated message here is that, so long as Cheney, Addington, Card, and Gonzales were able to mediate between DOJ and Bush, they were able to persuade him to keep the program on its illegal footing.
One more thing. Comey said that one of his staffers, Philben (sp), was denied a promotion because of his role in the hospital meeting.
Sheldon Whitehouse.
SW: Where the standards should be of what is proper and what is improper for bringing political influence into DOJ. More specifically, I've been concerned by statements that came out of DOJ, Sampson "the limited category for improper reasons would include an effort to interfere with a particular case." GOnzales: In order to interfere with a particular prosecution.
[basically, he's showing they're working off a talking point. I like Whitehouse.]
SW: When I read those things, I hearken back to Obstruction of Justice. 1) Awareness of particular case. 2) Interfere with it. 3) For corrupt purpose. Such as partisan or political gain. Do you think interfering with a particular case would be basis for opening up an investigation into obstructoin.
JC Certainly for opening an inquiry.
SW Is that the standard?
JC No, if the standard is obstruction of justice, we're setting the bar way too low.
JC You need to talk about it in two terms, Main Justice, they have to be different in terms of what political means. It is the job of DOJ to be responsive to priorities of President. It is Main Justice's job to see to it that USAs can operate where there is little or no political consideration. They've got to call balls and strikes as they see it. The job of the department is to receive the complaints and decide what to do with them without polluting the USAs.
Schumer Isn't it the office of OLC that makes a judgment about what is legal or not? DIdn't OLC advise you that what was attempting to be done was not within the law.
JC They coudl not find a legal basis for it.
Schumer Let me conclude by thanking you. You are a profile in courage. You are what our government is about. It has to do with caring about the rule of law. What happened in that hosptial room crystalizes the rule of law–he holds it in low regard. It's hard understanding how AGAG could remain AG, how ANY President could allow him to continue. I know it wasn't easy. I know if we didn't have the power of subpoena you wouldn't be here. We thank you for being here and having the courage for speaking the truth.
The audience applauds.
Related posts:
Spotlight
ZED
Schumer says that Comey’s testimony”crystalized Mr. Gonzales’s view of the rule of law – that he holds it in little regard.
“It’s hard to say how any president, Democrat or Republican, could allow him to continue.”
(paraphrase)
Over – people in room are giving Comey a standing ovation.
that was fucking amazing. gotta have a cig now.
((((thank you Jane))), thank you so much for this!
thanks Emptywheel – ya rock as always!
tommy, if I still smoked I’d join you.
My favorite was Schumer thanking Comey for testifying all of the American people!
Thank you Marcy for the liveblogging!
Thanks, Marcy and FDL.
EW, Helen, cbl et al:
Thank you!! It’s means a great deal to me that you all do what you do. Later…
missed it, but I’ll applaud anyway.
Say Hi to Mrs. Bush who is probably out having one herself for us!
debit @ 6
i’ll just have to have two!
you’re smarter than me, debit.
Thank you to EW and this wonderful site.
Jane Hamsher @ 2
And that is exactly where the Bush Crime Family wants him to hold it.
Mission Accomplished.
Echoing Quzi @ 7: thank you, Marcy! This is amazing.
CSPAN2 – Senate voting on water bill (S1495)- is this the one with the Iraq stuff in it ?
punaise @ 10
do whatever you can to watch, punaise. some of the most electrifying, damning testimony i’ve ever heard.
Empty, thanks so much. You’re a treasure to all of us who get the benefit of your work and wisdom. {{{Jane}}} you’re the greatest–thanks!
cbl @ 5
SECONDED!
RevDeb @ 14
You know, this country is living down to Ben Franklin’s worst fears, re: his comments to the woman about a Republic if you can keep it.
Thank you all. Got here late. Now everyone clean the butter and salt from your keyboards and mice.
wow.
will post link to an mp3 in a few minutes.
Just adding thanks to all involved. Imagine what it would be like without “the tubes”.
It is now impossible to be a student of this government without having FDL as a companion on the journey.
Thanks Marcy and all the most excellent commenters.
I’m with punaise, I missed it except for the amazing live blogging.
Thank you all for the recap.
Looks to me like Mr. Comey is a dragon slayer.
But did we hear any testimony that should lead to an inditment?
Wow. That was extraordinary. I hope the hospital story makes headlines. Bullying a man on his sickbed in an attempt to make an end run around the law. Gonzales has no shame at all.
I would love to know what Comey and Muller told the prez–whatever it was must’ve really scared him as it got him to go over the heads of his minders.
Beautiful work here folks. That was uplifting testimony. More like that.
Now what will the Buscho Corporate Media say (or remain silent) about the importance of what Comey revealed today…predictions? And/or what is the WH spin to combat the fact thatComey essentially blew the whistle on Lawbreakers in Chief Bushco et Gonzo et al. Bush/Gonzales gave the middle finger to the rule of law after attempting to take advantage of a man that was in the hospital who wouldn’t be coerced into legally greenlighting illegal actions through the “King George proclamation”.
that’s why they call him fredo. Do anything for the family and dumb.
I wonder how the boat scene gits in and who momma corleone is?
oh, to have a recording of that phone conversation between comey and card right after the hospital debacle.
We’ve been using references like The Godfather, and the Nazi’s, and Rove-as-Machievelli, etc., but did this just go Borgia with Ashcorft’s hospitalization?
Balrog @ 28
congratulations!
So what program were we referring to? Was it the surveillance program. If so, I am truly puzzled Asscroft refused to sign. He’s such a major wingnut.
Thanks FDL,
It’s great to be able to watch the testimony with color commentary and reminders of backstory, etc. Very valuable.
I was moved to tears by Schumer’s closing remarks re Comey. Rule of law. Courage.
Interesting how all the repugs other than Snarlin decided not to show up. It would be good for them not to show up for anything. Maybe then we could get something done to reverse the course of the Titanic.
Woodhall Hollow @ 27
I agree that Abu has no shame at all.
I don’t know about Bush being scared. I took his “do what’s right” comment as SOP CYA to get them out of his office. Then his pack of dogs could deal with them afterwards. JMHO.
Yeah, what’s with not showing up, GOP?
Most of them didn’t show up for Valerie’s testimony either. Emulating the ostrich, I guess: lalala, I can’t hear you.
Woodhall Hollow @ 27
That is precisely the story that should be on every front page tomorrow morning. But I won’t hold my breath……
But did we hear the basis for an inditement?
(how the heck do you spell “inditment” anyway?)
I wish I had been a fly on the wall videotaping that meeting in Ashcroft’s ICU room…Can you say UTube? That would have been priceless
Quzi @ 7
My favorite was when Comey got stumped with the question: Name one good thing Abu has done” That is gonna be all over KO and Jon Stewart tonight.
Feels like America!
So was Comey talking about the TSA and a sign off that was not statutorily required?
Or the statutorily required sign off of for the telecoms for the trawling there? Or was he being careful not to say which?
Still wish someone had asked about FISA court orders and their violations. But maybe they’ll que up Baker next?
Was this deliberately slid in so that there wouldn’t be many Republicans and the story could come out with more coherence and interruptions to discuss how wonderful the President is?
Oh well – great job.
Loo Hoo @ 42
Joy!
Thanks, again Marcy and FDL. MSM and those who don’t look elsewhere are the big losers today.
emptywheel – Thank you so much for these threads. Great work as always. i think we finally got the pyrotechnics that were missing from Comey’s testimony to the House. I’m down with Sen. Schumer – how can Abu G possibly remain as AG? His presence is emblematic of the corruption of this Adminsitration.
Unbelievable!
indictment
but the dic is silent.
Wow. Okay…
Good point about this hearing being under the radar, and it seems like they were sidetracked by the uber-important hospital story, which blows open the door of a whole scandal center that we’ve been waiting to look into (Greenwald should be very happy right now.)
Just a couple of things about Gonzo and the USAs that I missed. Comey seemed to almost go out of his way in characterizing Gonzo and saying that he wasn’t a bumbling incompetent, but he was quite capable of evaluating arguments and making decisions and was ENGAGED in running the DoJ (paraphrase, but he used the E-word). Nobody asked Comey, based on his experience in working with Gonzo, if he was an active or detached participant in the USA firings.
But a bigger topic was Gonzo’s arrival and the change in the climate of the DoJ. We just heard McKay last week in the Seattle Times saying that Gonzo gave a big speech to the troops where he said that everybody works for the President, and McKay thought, what? uh-oh, watch out now. Did Comey remember the speech? Can he characterize any politicization or changes in the DoJ upon Gonzo’s arrival?
Lastly, what about the Sampson-Goodling hiring order signed by Gonzo? Wouldn’t Comey have an opinion on that and its appropriateness for the administration of the DoJ? Thinking about it, that order itself could turn out to be the smoking gun for Gonzo, a lesser charge that might flush him–it’s just not a kosher way to operate DoJ–and Comey’s testimony on it could have been very helpful.
Helen @ 41
Yes, yes yes!
conniptionfit @ 39
It’s “indictment” IIRC.
TeddySanFran @ 37
If you’re a Repub who’s been on the Judiciary Committee for the last 7 years, you want to go explain how all this happened on YOUR watch?
RevDeb @ 14
Yup.
TeddySanFran @ 37
Republicans don’t do oversight. That would be responsible. They don’t do responsible either.
So now we know Republicons support the Hatchet Act. Also the Stonewall Act and Congressional Mushroom Treatment Act.
Felt different without Orrin Hatch and Cornyn.
Firepups, CSPAN did not cover this hearing. They say that they do not take webcasts or other video from the Judiciary Committee; at the same time, I think this testimony is sufficiently important enough that it should be seen by as many Americans as possible.
If you think it will help at all, please call Senator Schumer’s office and ask if he’d help with CSPAN perhaps bending its rules a bit in this matter. I just called them. There’s strength in numbers.
(202) 224-6542
Thank you,
-S
i’m still pissed that this hearing wasn’t on c-span.
note – this afternoon’s scheduled scheduled senate intelligence committee on the Nomination of John Rizzo to be CIA General Counsel – has been “Postponed, New Date to be Determined”.
Loo Hoo @ 42
Especially getting an email from Russ Feingold asking for money 5 minutes after the hearing ended.
10 Quatloos to the Patriot Fund!
f’ the hospital visit – I found the part about Card barring Solicitor General of the US from his office explosive !
Quzi @ 40
Card pinching off Ashcrofts IV drugs line, and Gonzales asking if he needs his fix yet! LMAO! Couldn’t happen to a nicer prick! (if I believed in torture, which I don’t)
tommy yum @ 17
Had an appointment to take my car to the shop but couldn’t tear myself away. Riveting.
LaFourmiRouge @ 46
gonzo stays in precisely because he did what he was supposed to do. he’s not a loose cannon; he’s a bag boy, a trigger man. he’s not going anywhere, unless it’s to save rove’s ass.
To tell you the truth, I was really really annoyed when Schumer monologued, and interpolated like some kind of cheap detective.
tommy, I’m coming up on two months of being smoke/nicotine free and it’s fabulous.
and RevDeb @ 35: Hah!! I am sure Arlen’s shoulders hurt from being the only water carrier. It’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for him. Then I remember Habeas corpus.
Mary4 @ 43
This was on the NSA spying program.
He was parsing carefully, obviously not setting up a conflict with Addington’s unitary theories.
OLC said there was no legal justification for the program as it currently existed. And OLC is the arbiter of this for the entire Executive Branch.
But as to whether the absence of signoff from DOJ itself was illegal, Comey was unwilling to say.
So in other words, the OLC judgment made the program illegal. The absence of signature had little to do with it.
mui @ 55
They didn’t have the guts to come in and question Comey.
Doesn’t this have AG perjury written all over:
When Comey described the night of the hospital visit, it was like listening to a movie script. Unbelievable. He was really afraid for Ashcroft. He said he got all of his guys together and they rushed to the hospital, that he sprinted up the steps..they were RUNNING to get to the room and they would not leave the AG alone. They were guarding him for his life. And, oh BTW, the AG got sick the week before just hours after they had agreed that the unnamed SPYING ON US CITIZENS program was discussed between Comey and Ashcroft and that they were not going to certify it as legal. (Do you suppose they were being EAVESDROPPED ON?????). Ashcroft almost died folks.
Then, in came Gonzo and Card. Gonzo the irreverent thug. What a scene. Then outside the room, Comey was called into another room to speak with Card, and they had words. It sounds like a mafia story. Also, he said it was the president that made the call personally that Gonzo and Card were coming to the hospital, even though the AG was in INTENSIVE CARE and visitors were banned by Mrs. Ashcroft.
What a crazy scenario. What a movie this is going to make someday. Who needs to make this stuff up…I’m still peeling my jaw off the ground.
OT ~ ‘BIG Pauly’ Wolfowitz: “I’m gonna F*CK YOU UP!” *wink
I guess the Repubs on the Committee all had to pick up their laundry from the dry cleaners. Er sumpthin’.
selise @ 22
Will this wind up on youtube? Hope so! Incredibly dramatic testimony. Thanks so much Marcy and Jane.
LS @ 68
they are the Borgias!
Breaking: Five more hurt in Green Zone!
Mary4 @ 43
That’s very classy of you Mary.
Hard to see how ANY President could keep him?
Well, Sheldon, um Senator WhiteHouse, this is not ANY President. This is the worst president EVER.
hey you guys, Lou Costello aint a kiddin’ -
do-si-do @ 47
Like Cheney?
Last year (I am still looking for the exact date, sorry) Gonzales stated directly and specifically that the Ashcroft hospital visit was NOT in relation to the warantless wiretapping program “that the president has acknowledged”, but rather to another, still classified and secret program. There was some speculation at the time that it was a broad-based data-mining program that was distinctly seperate, possibly a ‘feeder’ program for the warrantless wiretapping program. I don’t think we have the full story on this, yet, and Comey didn’t help, altho he did not contradict the general assumption. THere is still a program or three out there that we haven’t heard much about yet.
snowbird42 @ 73
Shitteth hitteth the fanneth. Embassy personnel afraid.
Y’all know where your pitchforks and torches are, right?
J. Thomason @ 67
Yeah but that’s Specter, and I’m sure he’ll find a judgment in Scottish law somewhere that says AGAG can never be found guilty of perjury because he always retains the ability to recant.
zhiv @ 48
Oh, I caught the word engaged and said out loud to my computer screen “he just accused Gonzo of perjeury”
tommy yum @ 62
Yes, Abu continues to “lead effectively”.
But, dammit, when do we get to the indiCtments?? I wanna see a perp walk here, very soon!!
PERP WALK!
PERP WALK!
PERP WALK!
Blue Girl @ 80
mine’s always at the ready
Quzi @ 49
Nope, it was better when his first rsponse was ” I’m not here to dump on Gonzales” Thats a paraphrase. It makes clear that he obvoulsy dumps on AGAG in other, more private, forums
in my hand and lit !
Elliott @ 85
In my barn. I’ve got all sorts of tooools.
nomolos @ 77
actually I misspoke (a lot of that going around).
The dic is pronounced “die”. Cheney’s mantra.
Congress, please don’t allow Gonzales to continue saying, “I’m going to stay on as AG.” So, who IS the Decider? I think directly it is congress, stemming from ‘We The People’.
Why get your ducks in a row only to let them fly away?
What has happened SINCE GONZO TOOK OVER to the OLC?
Has it been politicized?
bluejeansntshirt @ 21
I’ve often wondered how to clean butter and salt from mice. How do you do it?
/s
Schumer almost swore Comey in as the new AG. That was really funny.
cbl @ 59
No, I found the part about Muller feeling the need to order Comey’s FBI agents not to allow Comey to be REMOVED from the hospital room.
WHy did Muller fear that Comey was going to be forcibly removed?????
yellowdogD @ 92
Here Kitty Kitty
spurious @ 71
i sure hope someone captured the video (i only have the audio)… for youtube – this is must see tv.
ADDINGTON! ADDINGTON! ADDINGTON!
Good job on BookTV !
DOJ official stands up for the rule of law? Sounds like Elliot Richardson.
Applause in the gallery for a display of honor and truth? Sounds like Jimmy Stewart.
For our next contestant, Monica Goodling…..
A person I know who covers the DOJ for a news organization claims that Gonzales is smart and not a bumbling fool.
His bumbling act is to cover the absolute depraved levels of corruptness that he has enabled.
-GSD
looseheadprop @ 94
kaBOOM!
yellowdogD @ 92
I usually use a gentle shampoo, and make sure to take a Q-Tip to the ears afterward.
looseheadprop @ 94
He needs to testify about this matter. There was another stream of events that circled around Muller. My best guess is that CArd and Gonzo tried to use Muller and the FBI to banish Comey so that they could bully Ashcroft w/out a witness. And Muller wouldn’t go along.
selise @ 22
Thanks. Would appreciate it. Missed some.
This was incredible stuff!
Thanks EW, Jane, everyone.
Balrog @ 58
20 bananas for the FDL Fund!
zhiv @ 48
[snip]
[snip]
Striking refutation of AGAG’s defense.
Wonder what sort of distraction we should expect today–another ‘terrorist’ apprehended (6 months ago)?
looseheadprop @ 94
I think someone was BUGGING Comey and Ashcroft and probably Muller too. They knew. Gonzo knew. I’d bet anything, anything they were being eavesdropped on. This story is really sinister.
Wow! Comey’s testimony was amazing.
The fact that he and his men rushed to the hospital shows me that he really believed that the WH lackeys would take advantage of Ashcroft’s being on medication to force a signature. The President was right in on the plot. That is clear.
Also, amazing emptywheel’s live blogging! Thank to all at FDL who made it happen.
Blue Girl @ 80
I’ve got some tiki torches and a rake. Always drives out the monsters in the movies.
OT: y’all have probably seen this already, but here are some richly deserved words of praise from Glenn Greenwald:
well said, Glenn.
LS @ 93
no… sad… check in yer rear-view mirror – how far this poor country has fallen in a mere 6 yrs & counting….
what.a.mess
something is stuck on “bold”.
Had to leave just after Kohl… And now it appears to be over. I thought there was supposed to be a second round? Was there some sort of time limit and Schumer and Specter used it all up? Can anyone fill me in on why it’s over so soon? Thanks…
I suspect this all comes out looking like a disgruntled employee. I don’t think anything illegal, immoral or evening fattening was shown.
Great coverage- great to see Mary back!
Check Comey’s testimony. He made a point to say that Ashcroft was taken ill mere “hours” after their meeting about the “program” and it’s legality.
phred @ 112
I think they basically decided that they had to go into a closed hearing to get to the real dirt/meat. Yeah, Comey’s opinions about Abu are interesting, but this NSA-hospital story is the smoking gun they have been looking for, for awhile. Clever how they got Comey in. And interesting how Comey wasn’t surprised by Schumer’s questions.
even if they didn’t know they were being bugged, by that time Dir Mueller had had conversations w/Addington that admittedly made his skin crawl
link
will see if I can find the “skin crawl” quote – believe it is in original USNWR article
thank you for covering this
not only were illegal, immoral and fattening in evidence–so bad they made Ashcroft look good (I never thought I would find myself typing the words Ashcroft and good in the same sentence)…
looseheadprop @ 94
I also wonder if Mueller made some, um, Texas Mafia type comments to persuade Bush, after Comey’s rationality did not succeed.
A bunch of thugs, these BushCo.
My first visit to FDL, via dKos, but by no means my last.
Wonderful transcription. Thanks to all of you.
GSD @ 99
I am not buying that for one freaking second. Read his stuff out of Texas, it was available on the web around the time of his confirmation hearings. Listen to his testimony in ANY and ALL of the hearings he has appeared in. I defy you to find one legally intelligent thing he has ever said. He may not be totally stupid by average standards, but I know 200 far superior legal minds in my city alone; some of them working as fucking municipal prosecutors.
Adie @ 103
expect mp3 will be up w/in 20 min. check back here, will leave a link at the bottom of this thread.
Anyone here able to compare the transcript of what Gonzo testified to during his AG Senate confirmation hearings on the issue that Comey raised? Didn’t Gonzo assure them no laws were broken, yet the fact that for 2 weeks they did, and Abu was advocating illegal actions when he was WH counsel. Isn’t that ….illegal and unethical and against his oath as a lawyer?
Don’t feed the troll.
albert fall @ 98
Sssss…..
LS @ 111
Bushco?
LibertyLee @ 113
And, of course, we’re supposed to trust you to know illegal, immoral, or fattening from an extra hole in your head.
MNblue @ 121
welcome, and come back often!
RICO
ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!
Now if we can find some news editors with spine?
Sixty Something @ 107
Bush cannot claim he didn’t realize this was going on.
tommy yum @ 62
Exactly.
LibertyLee @ 113
i respectfully disagree…
looseheadprop @ 94
Yes –I was not sure I had heard that right. And I wondered why no one followed up on that with a question?
emptywheel @ 120
Actually, now that I think of it–I think that Comey and Muller stood up to Bush and assured him that if he didn’t back down that there would be a mass resignation–which would include Ashcroft. Just imagine the fireworks if that had happened. It’s not like Ashcroft was a great civil libertarian or anything–what Bush was up to must’ve been really bad to get all these people so riled up.
65 – both programs (and maybe more that we don’t know about) are NSA programs. ON KO, Turley said (when the telecoms program came out) that the Comey showdown was over that program. For that program, the DOJ sign off would be a statutory issue, since there is a toehold that perhaps, vis a vis the telecoms at least, they are protected if they have an AG sign off, even without a warrant.
The tenor of the earlier Palace Revolt, which came out after the disclosures of the TSA but before the telecoms disclosures IIRC, was that the showdown was over the TSA. That has no statutory basis whatsoever so the sign off would not be a statutory issue, just a departmental check.
From the blogging, it sounds like Comey was trying to be vague on which program, but the question asked seemed to want to pin down which program by referring to whether it was a statutory or non-statutory sign off. I wondered how it came across to those who listened to it.
You think it was pretty clear it was the NSA’s “TSA” program (aka, per Gonzales, as “the specific program which the President has disclosed” – as opposed to whatever else may be out there I guess) as opposed to NSA’s telecom program?
LibertyLee @ 113
You don’t think that it was immoral, or unethical to harrass a man in the Intensive Care Unit? Simply for a political purpose? Don’t you have any compassion?
Comey testified that Bush’s personal telephone call initiated the hospital visit.
Woodhall Hollow @ 116
So are they going into closed session today or will that wait until some future date?
I agree completely, it looked like Comey knew this was coming and Schumer already knew all about it, which is why he kept reinterpreting things so any slow pokes in the audience understood exactly what Comey was saying. I noticed some commenters here didn’t appreciate that, but I think Schumer wanted to make sure Comey’s testimony wasn’t left open for interpretation and spin (not that that will stop the professional spinners of course…)
LS @ 139
That’s right–he called Mrs Ashcroft because she wasn’t allowing ANY visitors. It would take a such a phone call to get her to relent on that point.
Raw Story: “Ex-Deputy Attorney General: Gonzales, Cheney tried to
subvert Justice Dept. on warrantless taps: Developing…”
no link yet.
Elliot @ 132…exactly. They all new that whatever program they were advocating was also was ILLEGAL…and yet they did it anyway. No one can claim ignorance here…Comey and Aschroft and others informed them it was illegal. They all knew….Impeach them all!
With all the talk of the eavesdropping, I wonder if that is not another little surprise interpretation of the patriot act? Is there an Addington opinion floating out there that authrorizes that power from our “unitary executive”?
zhiv @ 48
Casts the USA dismissals in a different light, too…
Were these the USA’s who’d be most likely to prosecute the White House and OVP if there was a case brought to them about domestic spying? I’ve had that as a risk factor, but now I think I have to elevate its importance.
[EW — great job as always, thanks!]
There’s the implicit possibility that, ala J Edgar, Mueller told Bush that he could turn Bush asunder.
Has Ashcroft spoken on any of this, where is he now?
We got a bit of an inside look into how this White House works. I have worked in several organizations with a weak Chief Executive- and this is exactly how it works. You’ve got a bunch of senior executives runnin around freelancin- runnin the place cause the REAL CEO is incapable of giving direction- analyzing results- giving corrective feedback- or basically doin a damn thing other than rubbin his dick..
The Sr. Executive will eventually start colliding with one another- and there’s no traffic cop to stop em- until it’s too fuckin late- then the absent CEO shows up cause someone insists on it- and he makes a decision based on the last person he talked to- resolves nothin- and goes back to sleep.
This shit has been goin on for over six years- and this is some of the first we’ve heard about it. Tragic.
I’ve just come back from vacation to what a great surprise! The hearing seems to have had the USA firings as its rationale, but Schumer pulled off a real stunner by introducing the NSA spying. FDL, BTW, has caught all the other blogs with their pants down.
94 – Secret service?
I thought the wildest part was testimony that the Acting AG, standing DAG AND the FBI Director, had so little trust for White House Counsel that, upon learning WHC is on the way to the hospital, both envision efforts to get the signature of a medicated person who may be non-compis mentis, and to get that signature from them in a capacity – Attorney General – which they would not even have at the time of the signature.
Wow – the AG and the FBI Director both thought WHC was willing and able to perpetrate that kind of, well I won’t use the “f” word, but still.
Is this it for Comey today?
Helen @ 3
AGH! I slept through it all.
Elliott @ 147
Ashcroft has been amazingly silent since he left–no round of talk shows for him. He must’ve lost his stomach for all things Bush. I never thought I would ever see the day when I would feel sympathy for him.
The thing that gets me WRT Ashcroft, is that they were hassling someone the Idiot-in-Chief had appointed. If this is how they treat fellow Republicans, why is the GOP still loyal?
Great balls of fire, this man was in intensive care, where the hell was Ashcroft’s physician??? No doctor worth their salt would have allowed this gang into ICU. And the nurses on duty should have called security when the Bushies showed up on the floor.
Would love to hear Mrs. Ashcroft’s “take” on this!
GSD @ 99
The bumbling fool act is a masterful performance. Abu is the air bag in front of whoever is driving the runaway truck (Rove/Cheney/Bush).
I’m impressed that Mrs. Ashcroft is the one who got Comey and Company to show up at the hospital. Why did she feel the need to? What did she know, and when did she know it?
The above questions and answers gave me goose bumps. We will all explode when we learn more about the WH’s astounding dirty deeds.
Thank you, Marcy.
Mary-
If you are still around. Assuming that some laws were broken, are you familiar with any procedure that Congress could use to force a criminal investigation by a DOJ who refuses to do it?
Great to see you again.
LS @ 139
That’s the money shot. Thanks FDL!
Elliott @ 147
No, and I’m betting he won’t. When it all comes down to it, Ashcroft is always a good little wingnut in public. Hafta wonder if MRS Ashcroft might not still be pissed off enough to testify, tho.
Fantastic live-blogging. Thanks and kudos!
It all happened so fast. Like a bolt of lightning.
Oh, and Liberty Lee, this is a reality-based community. If you’re going to hang here, your comments should reflect that.
They have no regard for life at all. 655,000 plus Iraqi civilians and thousands of US troops dead. What’s a mere uncooperative AG’s life worth to them. Nada, zip.
Thanks Marcy and FDL for the excellent coverage. This is as close as anything I have seen to the death of a deputy USA and subsequent firing of 2 others investigating medicare and medicaid fraud in Texas. Remember the veiled threats to judges by Bill Frist around the time of the Terry Shivo debacle. Frist’s family had to pay the largest fine ever for his family hospital’s chain for medicare fraud. I think there is a corelation that these people mean business.
debit @ 64
Have good friends who quit. It’s HARD!
CONGRATS! And keep up the good work.
It may not be easy, but you’ll be glad you did!!! ;->
Rayne @ 145
well, BushCo could tell who they could rely on in a crunch and who would walk out.
It was an unintended litmus test
naschkatze @ 149
As Usual!
OT
The Rev. Jerry Falwell arrived at Lynchburg General Hospital today around noon after being found unresponsive in his office. Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of Liberty University, confirmed that Falwell was found unconscious in his office after missing an appointment this morning.
Check http://www.newsadvance.com
Woodhall Hollow @ 153
Surprisingly enough, Ashcroft showed up on “The Daily Show” with his book. I expected Jon Stewart to, well, let him have it.
The questioning that resulted was surprisingly gentle.
-S
139 = that’s how I read that here too – the President calling to say he’s sending his boys over to force the signature.
That’s why I really think this boils down to FISA court orders and violations and the imposition by the court of the penalty of perjury standard, more so than some later day determination the program that had been ongoing for years was suddenly perceived as “so unlawful – today that is” that it needed the showdown.
I think Comey thought, not just that they’d make a medicated man sign, but also that he might be being forced, while medicated, to commit perjury (if the stories about the FISA judge getting ticked and demanding that the sign off include an Under Penalty of Perjury statement that the firewalls were being followed are true).
All fwiw – gotta go.
OT–
Cheney with reporters on Air Force Two, heading for Shannon, Ireland:
Brisingamen @ 154
My analogy is Ken Lay and Enron employee/shareholders. They’re buyin’ while he was sellin’…Bushco cronies only care about themselves, not the country or even the party, as you say. Wake up GOP before you lose your life savings.
LS @ 139
that’s just pure evil.
Don’t feed the troll. There’s only one here — I won’t dignify it by typing its name.
They had to twist Bush’s arms to order Comey to “do the right thing,” and he wouldn’t even do it in person, he did it through Mueller.
He’s in it up to his eyebrows. He knows every sleazy thing that’s being done and he’s been covering his ass the entire time.
Falwell has fallen? Should somebody let Alberto Gonzales know so he can make a hospital visit asap?
Mod: Please take us out of bold. From # 95 on.
his name is John Walcott – McClatchy – formerly Knight Ridder – is very busy playing Ben Bradlee to Landay and Stroebels ‘Woodstein’ :)
spurious @ 156
Bush’s bumbling fool act is not an act. He is the “useful idiot” for Rove and Cheney.
despairing @ 175
Yea, unresponsive. How would they know?
If Comey and Mueller had not been at the hospital, and if the AG had died, I’d bet my bottom $ that they would have found a way to “autopen” his signature.
Mary4 @ 137
I’m not sure what distinction YOU are making.
THere are two parts to the domestic spying program. First, the interception of the actual circuits. That program was implemented–or at least the RFP was bid–under Clinton.
Then, after 9/11, Bush started using that physical reality to be able to specifically tap people’s lines based on 6 degrees of separation from Al Qaeda. This program–the tapping of lines without a FISA warrant–is what Comey was talking about, and AFAIK, the hospital visit has never been portrayed as anything else. Further, Risen and Lichtblau, early on, made it clear that Comey was objecting to this program (in fact Comey’s description matches the early Risen/Lichtblau reporting in several ways).
In addition to the specific tapping of lines without a warrant, the larger physical issue raises the problem of the collection of everyone’s metadata.
ANd finally, there is the fact that people like JOhn BOlton were getting access to the USA-related information from normal, legal NSA taps of foreigners.
But I have no doubt that the issue Comey had was with the warrantless tapping. DiFi’s testimony (and of course, she is one of the three SSCI/SJC dual appoints fully read into this program) seemed to confirm that view–and she provided the most details of the program they all seemed to know they were discussing.
The Lord comes for Jerry Falwell?
Goin ta heaven with an oxtail lodged in his throat?
Elliott @ 147
Among other things, he lectures at Monica Goodling’s alma mater Regent University.
Brisingamen @ 154
That’s easy to say. I work in a hospital – security? There was probably a security detail with Ashcroft.
His physician may not have be in the hospital or on the floor. Those other medical personnel on duty wouldn’t necessarily interfere if they’re people from Ashcroft’s office unless they’re actually going him “harm” AND for all you know Ashcroft may have waved off the medicos concerns or the medicos may have finally gotten them out of the room. It’s not all that important now anyway I guess.
All I can say is WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWZA!
Thanks emptywheel for the live blow by blow!
raven @ 167
..it’s not nice to dance over someones misfortune…it’s not nice to dance…it’s not nice…getting superglue and applying to seat…it’s not nice to dance..aarrgghh.
Hugh @ 183
There’s a great reference!
I just came back from lunch and the link to the webcast is dead. Can someone provide one…pllllease??
ken melvin @ 146
That’s what I was thinking…
When Meuller sent in the troops to protect Comey one has to wonder if he remembered what happened to William Casey after he was admitted to hospital during the Reagan years.
Was he protecting Comey or Ashcroft that is the question? I would put nothing, nothing at all beyond these devils in the WH.
***please read this Libertylee**
raven @ 167
stricken or struck down,
or this will get big attention?
Sally @ 157
I thought that interesting as well.
EvilDrPuma @ 101
:~)
brendan @ 173
i think we get it, thanx…
btw, some have asked if this was “all there’s gonna be.”
didn’t Feinstein, & perhaps others, mention continuing the hearing behind closed doors, because of nature of material to be discussed?
it ain’t over till it’s over….
sounded to me as if there was plenty to be fleshed out away from cameras & open mikes…
sure hope so.
ccmask @ 188
seems you and i both missed all the action. perhaps they will re-broadcast on cspan this eve
despairing @ 175
If Falwell is seriously ill, I’m sure the gays and feminists are to blame.
I only caught the last part of the hearing. Are we satisfied with the questions that were asked?
lhp at 94
In the UE system, Courts and Administrative Law are ‘not allowed’ to replace ‘Political Appointees’ of the President – not even those that require Senate confirmation! Hence, that little Patriot Act clause Spector’s staffer slipped in to allow the President to make ‘permanent’ temporary placements of USAs.
So, my guess is that Cheney/Addington/Card/Gonzo took the position that Comey wasn’t actually the Acting-AG – because only the UE can make that determination. They went to the hospital to get ‘the real AG’s signature’ and were willing to push Comey out the door to do it, but Muller’s FBI Agents wouldn’t have it.
When Ashcroft sided with Comey – Bush got DIRECTLY involved.
Undoubtedly, Bush revealed to Comey (and probably to Muller, too) that he was acting as the Unitary Executive, and had been since the AUMF (can’t you just hear it – “911 changed everything!”)
The SJC wants to hear about ‘the legal determinations made by the OLC’ behind closed doors.
Why? Because if OLC said ‘the Program’ was illegal – that’s binding – but Bush appears to have continued the Program for at least two weeks with No Legal Certification (ie – outside the Law.)
Making Law, by himself, would be something Only A King could do…In public, Comey was only willing to go so far as to say the Program ‘wasn’t legal’ but he wouldn’t say the Program ‘was illegal.’
The implications for Presidential precedent-setting here are enormous…
Oh, okay. Thanks. I caught the first act but had to leave. Nuts
Check http://www.newsadvance.com
stricken or struck down,
or this will get big attention?
I’m sure McCain will go runnin down there to
pandercomfort those flockers.raven @ 179
Sounds like Falwell’s boss might have called him up for a performance review.
Comey got a call from his Chief of Staff, saying Mrs. Ashcroft had gotten a call at the hospital, saying Card and Gonzales were on their way over.
Question: Who or what led Mrs. Ashcroft to alert Comey’s Chief of Staff about Card and Gonzales on their way to the hospital? Mrs. Ashcroft was protecting her husband from the WH. Why? I Imagine Mrs. Ashcroft’s testimony would be mighty interesting about the days preceding Ashcroft’s hospitalization and the night of Card & Gonzales univited appearance.
Why get your ducks in a row only to let them fly away?
good question, MR @90
Biodun @ 170
he’ll probably put somebody’s eye out
Wow Raven–at the link…
The Rev. Jerry Falwell arrived at Lynchburg General Hospital today around noon after being found unresponsive in his office. Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of Liberty University, confirmed that Falwell was found unconscious in his office after missing an appointment this morning.
wrt John Ashcroft “where is he now?”, he’s at Regent U Law School.
Moyers last week did an interesting — and scary — look at the rise of Regent’s law school and its success in getting its alums placed in the fed govt. And made the point that Ashcroft is hanging there these days.
conniptionfit @ 138
I don’t think it shows a lack of compassion to cut through what was obviously a bureaucratic snafu which got fixed later to keep a National Security Program in place.
EvilDrPuma @ 196
I see Clinton’s hand in this. *g*
EvilDrPuma @ 196
i’m utterly speechless, & holding my breath,
not that there’s anything wrong with that…
ccmask @ 205
My father-in-law is in that hospital, they have a cracker jack cardiac unit there.
Falwell story not on cable news at this moment – checking wires now
Nola Sue @ 206
They say that the cream rises to the top…but come to think of it, I don’t know what that has to do with Ashcroft and Regent University Law School.
cbl @ 210
Just hit msnbc
rwcole @ 182
Damn, Falwell misses the Rapture? But I thought it was preordained?
The reporting on Falwell sounds like the reporting on ANS.
Falwell story on CNN tv now…
cbl @ 210
It just hit MSNBC ; )
cbl @ 210
MSNBC just reported the story.
Badwater @ 178
I think this whole hospital escapade indicates that Bush, while a moron when it comes to policies and principles, is a ruthless and hands-on guy in much of the “wet work” of politics, not a “bumbling fool”. Digby and others have described his job as “enforcer” for his father. He’s certainly not a “useful idiot” for Rove; I’m not even sure he’s one for Cheney.
kdh22 @ 213
I didn’t know he was a Blondie fan. . .little devil!
Toe to toe
Dancing very slow
Barely breathing
Almost comatose
Wall to wall
People hypnotised
And they’re stepping lightly
Hang each night in Rapture
Nola Sue @ 206
That success may be on the wane with Republic power on the wane.
From The Hill:
The Hill
Nola Sue @ 206
Moyers pointed out that over the past couple of years (after Goodling’s time) they have been working on raising the admission standards and making the program more rigorous. Perhaps Ashcroft was brought in to help them out with that. He is well educated, after all (U of Chicago, iirc) and as we now know, has some respect for the the rule of law….
kdh22 @ 213
Oh! No snark alert! /wiping coffee off laptop – again/
raven @ 209
(((raven)))
I’m sure all here wish your father in law well.
AZ Matt @ 221
Spin Spin Spin Abu!
Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:
IN A SIGNIFICANT SHIFT A WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL TELLS ABC’S JONATHAN KARL THAT ‘ALL OPTIONS ARE ON THE TABLE’ REGARDING WORLD BANK PRESIDENT PAUL WOLFOWITZ, AND ‘IT IS AN OPEN QUESTION’ WHETHER HE SHOULD REMAIN AS PRESIDENT OF WORLD BANK.
Six gooper presidential candidates flyin to Lynchburg clutching at “endorsement” letters for fat Jerry ta sign before he goes to his glory.
Course that’s nothin compared to the jockeyin ta come at the funeral ta see who gets ta sit closest ta the corpse and the teevee cameras.
My father-in-law is in that hospital, they have a cracker jack cardiac unit there.
(((raven)))
I’m sure all here wish your father in law well.
Thanks, 2 valves replaced and he’s 85. We’re hoping but it’s a long, tough haul.
skilly @ 131
sorry, news editors can only do “spin.” No Spine allowed in corporate owned media.
Mary4 @ 137
But given Comey’s reticence, could there have been another program that was more deeply classified, that we don’t yet know about, that hasn’t hit the news yet? Scary.
I called C-SPAN just now. Their programming dept. choose not to film the Senate hearing with Comey today. I was told, also, by C-SPAN that they do not usually air others’ films of events.
C-SPAN telephone # (202)737-3220.
Dear emptywheel,
Many thanks for this service. MANY thanks.
raven @ 228
(((raven)))
I’m sure all here wish your father in law well.
Thanks, 2 valves replaced and he’s 85. We’re hoping but it’s a long, tough haul.
(((raven and family)))
kdh22 @ 213
If Falwell did auger in, perhaps Bush would believe that the Rapture has started. He might resign and then go sit on his brush ranch and wait to be raptured himself.
The question is, has Comey’s testimony hit cable news yet? I’m on the west coast and haven’t been awake very long. I skimmed the channels but haven’t seen anything.
newspaperbrat @ 217
like I said, was he stricken or struck down?
or was it something to distract attention?
ccmask @ 205
Were his mother and a bottle of Jack Daniels anywhere in the vicinity?
Regarding the summary of events at the beginning of this post, I understood Comey to say that he did not get his order to “do what is right” directly from Bush, but from Mueller. Could whatever Bush said to Mueller have been much more ambiguous?
Badwater @ 234
BW – you stop teasing me now! I can only take so much good in a day!
TexBetsy @ 226
Now they’re planning a military strike on the World Bank?
Sounds like Wolfie’s gonna be drawin unemployment- till he gets a job at Pepperdine.
And many thanks to FDL and all the people who make this possible whose names and handles I do not know, too
brendan @ 237
That’s Tennessee, he’s in Virginia.
Badwater @ 240
They’re trying to find him another job.
TexBetsy @ 195
Wait awhile and try to reload it. I am having the same problem.
behindthefall @ 242
I second the motion!
Milan River @ 231
that’s alarming
raven @ 219
missed the rapture?
u mean that was IT???
whew.
hey i can still see myself in the mirror! cool!
-and play with our my honey, & our kitties.
-and hear our little wren singing.
-and the Lake’s still here too!
neeee-toh!!!
;->
MSNBC
News on Falwell not good. Shucks.
Falwell “gravely, serious condition” MSNBC.
Toast.
Falwell ~ “Gravely serious” MSNBC
Milan River @ 231
WHAT? I understand they can’t show everything live, but cspan didn’t cover this mornings hearing at all?
LS @ 245
Maybe the Bush Brush Ranch could use another foreman.
I think Bush wants to raptured while on his mountain bike- he’ll just pedal faster and faster and voila- he gets airborne.
Kewwy O’Donnell says ABU threw McNulty under the bus this morning.
Maybe Wolfowitz could be a hairstylist.
deborahj @ 238
do you mean Mueller was saying don’t sign it and after they shoot you, I’ll shoot them?
I have to say after hearing a lot of this that I have a new, grudging respect for John Ashcroft. Sure, the guy was a wingnut unhealthily obsessed with ‘decency’ and the like, but he refused to go along with the Bushco illegalities, politicization of the DoJ, and the wiretapping program.
Ashcroft probably (without our knowing it at the time) managed to stem the tide a bit. We’d probably be in a much worse position if Gonzo had been AG from 2001 instead of 2004.
raven @ 249
[takes down dartboard]
*sniffle*
rwcole @ 148
This is a great description of the Bush presidency.
I think Falwell got raptured by himself.
raven @ 255
Not a good day for Abu to be drawing attention to himself.
LibertyLee @ 207
Excuse me, the man was under critical care, and on pain medications! I’ve had gallbladder surgery, the entire condition is painful in the extreme. Anyone who would pester a man in Ashcrofts condition-especially when Ashcroft had left a duly appointed, qualified, and trusted deputy to act for him-is heartless. I’m not going to argue with you about this any longer. Clearly you lack understanding and compassion.
raven @ 243
but wasn’t that a Jack Daniels ad (parody)?
Adie @ 248
rwcole @ 254
you’re a mess (but very cynical..i like). I’m a mtn biker. I’ve been airborn…lots. If that’s the rapture, I want none of it. Wait. I don’t believe in that sh*t anyway. Life is Good.
(((raven and family)))
no Brendan, but the reports failed to include eyewitness accounts of the limo speeding off – with the license plate REGENT I
. . .and besides, everyone knows it was Campari!:)
Shed no tears for Pastor Falwell- tis a far better place he goes to than any he has ever been- and he’ll get three squares and a management position.
I hope Ashcroft doesn’t come out of all this smelling like a rose. Ashcroft is a rat too. He’s no Ellitot Richardson.
By the way, Marcy, you totally kick ass. I really appreciate all your fine work on this DoJ mess, the Libby trial, your book, and all the other stuff you’ve done. Keep up the great work!
LS @ 256
eeeeeuwwww
LS @ 256
Don’t, i repeat, DON’T go there. I just ate!
Reporting on Gonzo is all about downplaying everything and justifying why docs should not be turned over…nothing hear…move along…looky over there…rapturing in progress.
A Falwell funeral is one that Bush would find time to attend. Somehow, he’s just too busy to go to funerals of those killed fighting his vanity war.
rwcole @ 254
hopefully not taking out 3 seecrserv & a mted bobbie & horse along the way….
raven @ 255
You mean he tried to drag McNulty under the bus that was already dragging Abu’s carcass along the road, hung up by his little jacket on the differential?
I’ll shed no tears for Jerry. Not a one.
kdh22 @ 271
but did you eat a comb?
Now Wolfie’s threatening the World Bank staff: “If they fuck with me or with Shaha, I have enough to fuck them too.” Think Progess has the scoop.
I think this is called a “sundering of relations.”
Badwater @ 274
He owes Falwell for his presidency (amongst others). He doesn’t owe anything to the troops he’s killed; they’re just so much cannon fodder. [/snark]
BTW Ashcroft was in the hospital at the time for gallstone pancreatitis. Basically, he had gallstones (cholecystitis) which caused inflammation and/or obstruction of the pancratic ducts resulting in inflammation of the pancreas. Both the gallstone and pancreas problems are very painful. What usually happens is that the patient is kept off food for a few days to give time for the inflammation to go down so that the gallbladder can be removed. The patient is usually on a fair amount of a painkiller like morphine. It sounds as if the famous visit was pre-operative and so Ashcroft was likely pretty doped up.
Rayne @ 275
L07
I think if you read between the lines of Whitehouse’s questions you’ll see the move to call for an Special Prosecutor….
Veritas78 @ 278
Sounds familiar. Maybe he’s been “listening” in….Blackmail anyone.
ccmask @ 276
Oklahoma kiddo @ 268
We’re grading on a sliding scale here, OKK. Too many of them that are extremely bad not to employ a distribution curve of evil.
LS @ 256
or a comb-tester
TexBetsy @ 277
TB – you slept in, missed the hearing, shout about wolfie and then do this to me? I used to like you…heeheehee. How ya doin’?
Hugh @ 207
This is how they got Vince Foster
/s
Bush: If you are alive, you are not human debris.
Veritas78 @ 278
well, if he’s got something on them, let’s see it. clean the place up or out
Falwell grew up in a strongly segregationist setting and supported racial segregation for the first few years of his career. In 1965 Reverend Falwell gave a sermon at his Thomas Road Baptist Church criticizing Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, which he sometimes referred to as the Civil Wrongs Movement. On his Evangelist program The Old-Time Gospel Hour in the mid 60s he regularly featured Segregationist politicians like Lester Maddox and George Wallace [12]. He often spoke out in favor of the racist position in those days. His views eventually shifted and he is now against segregation.
A little decorum, folks, please. Let’s show a little compassion — Christian or otherwise — for the man.
Yeah, I know full well he was damn short of that himself. He’s part of the reason I had a hard time growing up. Still, he’s human, even if he’s not one of our better examples.
conniptionfit @ 263
I’d say that it was more than a bureaucratic snafu if Ashcroft was able to muster the energy to pick his head up off the pillow and to tell Gonzales and Card to take a hike. And to threaten to resign with at least 4 other people (maybe more?) while still in the hospital. And in the long run, even Bush was forced to come around and tell Comey to do what had to be done to make it legal.
And if it was *only* a bureaucratic snafu, thenn why did they need Ashcroft or Comey’s signature?
Think about it Liberty Lee–this is Ashcroft standing up to the White House, not Leahy.
kdhh
My brother and I own a bike store. (He runs it). Mostly we get respectable roadies- but every once in a while we get perfectly nutso downhillers- they’re fun- and there’s always a lot of comptetition ta be the one who sold em their last bike.
Really, folks – we should exercise a little compassion for Brother Jerry, who will perhaps enter the bardo entirely spiritually impaired.
Sad end for a “man of God”.
Bearpaw @ 292
If he had any compassion and was a true Christian, he would be on the airwaves every day preaching an end to the killing in the wars he has supported.
Mr. Ashcroft’s “hospitalization” at this point in the story raises my conspiracy antenna; especially, after the reports of deaths of other DOJ officials.
Mr. Comey must have been disappointed his appearance before the House didn’t let him tell some of what he knew about the thugs who have taken over so much of our country.
raven @ 291
Interracial dating is still forbidden at his Liberty University.
Bearpaw @ 293
Thanks for that. Well said.
A little compassion is exactly what he deserves. . .very little.
Falwell is a controversial subject for his theological, political and social beliefs. After the September 11, 2001, attacks Falwell said on the 700 Club, “I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’” (a sentiment with which Robertson concurred).
Hugh @ 280
so what is the exact time line, did the White House wait until just pre-op to try to get Ashcroft to sign? Can someone remind me when Ashcroft refused to sign it, please. thanks, I can’t recall.
Rayne @ 145
ha. one of them is in DC.
ccmask @ 276
ah’m wit ya.
but i was struck by related chord in recent comment linking bif’s funeral attendance to vanity war
surely there’s no such thang as a vanity religion(!)
Elliott @ 301
Six days after taking ill.
ian @ 282
I don’t see how else this can be dealt with, and there’s an inevitability, too
Re Gonzales and McNulty, as Murray Waas has written IIRC, McNulty was kept out of the loop on most of what went on with the firings. He was then informed of them as pretty much a fait accompli. In other words, in his statement today, Gonzales is lying through his teeth.
ian @ 283
God I hope so.
I have heard of serious, critical, and grave condition, but never gravely, serious.
LS @ 289
‘nother theory shot to %&@$!
LS @ 308
That’s right before AMF!
kdh22 @ 272
Comey v. Comb-y
Yeah- I think that they meant “grave” as in
GRAVE.
raven @ 311
Which is directly after FIGMO
I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won’t have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them. What a happy day that will be!
– Rev Jerry Falwell
maybe not you old bastid
a bunch of Jerry’s quotes…
Rayne @ 286
yeah, all of this does make me kind of nostalgic for the days when the DOJ statues wore burquas….
(btw, re Falwell, you guys have me giggling my ass off here behind the closed door of my office)
raven @ 292
Or says he is.
spurious @ 316
You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows.
Reminiscent of Sharon.
I have a general question about Rove and Gonzalez. Today emptywheel suggested that Rove wants Gonzalez gone – she interprets this statement by “Republican strategist” Charlie Black:
““The president wants him in the job and never thought he did anything wrong, and has made that plain to everybody. And therefore, everybody else in the administration is in line with that.”
to mean:
“Karl Rove is going along, for now, but he’s working with OTR Club members to make it harder for Gonzales to stay”
There was NYT article last week where, according “people close to Karl Rove’s thinking” (an absurd locution), it would be better for Gonzalez to resign, but the President was insistent on keeping him. I thought it was just a lie, that everyone wanted him to stay at this point, and chalking it up to Bush’s “loyalty” was the best spin they could find for it.
emptywheel doens’t agree. I don’t understand why Rove would want Gonzalez gone, especially at this point. Maybe at the beginning, when he could be offered up as propitiation, but now?
kdh22 @ 288
Doing OK thanks. Had some medical stuff done yesterday and I think I was sleeping off the sedation.
rwcole @ 158
cant they conduct their own? they have all the power and authority they need, dont they?
Falwell’d be gone by now- but St. Peter can’t open the gates wide enough ta get him in- sent for a crane.
CNN on Comey’s testimony, finally.
Yikes!
TexBetsy and other fellow texans – am getting my first up close look at a copperhead ! looks like he’s digesting something – big shudder! I loves me some critters, but am borderline phobic about these guys
continues clutching magic blogging light
“It’s just a number…” US GI DEATHS PASS 3400 MARK …or is it “just a coma”?
Lou Costello @ 325
Now there is something to mourn.
fed
They can conduct an investigation- but not a criminal investigation- and they can’t indict. At least that’s how I understand it.
rwcole @ 323
there’s also that little technicality about a rich man and the eye of a needle.
for firepups who missed the hearing, or who want to listen again to a key bit…
i’ve posted the audio here. scroll down to the bottom, it is item #6.
please feel free to cross post or use in anyway to get the story and info out. i’m still pissed that c-span didn’t carry the hearing.
p.s. there’s a few seconds (less than 10) of drop out during kohl’s questioning.
I just sent this to my Senator:
Dear Senator Grassley:
I just viewed the testimony of James Comey to the Senate Judiciary Committee of which you are a member. I note that only Senator Spectre represented the Republican Party.
I know that I have been all over you on the illegal NSA spying and it was interesting to note the the compelling testimony of Mr. Comey regarding the 45 day reauthorization of the illegal program.
For the last 7 years your party has conducted little oversight and allowed this corruption of our Judicial System. The American people deserve better.
You are a very respected and distinguished member of Congress. Do you want the 2000-2006 era of Congressional control to be one of shame? We deserve better. Jim Clausen
Andrea Koppel on CNN now (10:10 PDT) showing clip of Comey’s testimony. Talking about the hospital meeting with Ashcroft.
This, on CNN. This story doesn’t appear to be flying under the radar now. :)
cbl @ 324
Yikes!! We have a lot of rat snakes – they eat other snakes. I’m always afraid of coming across a copperhead, because there’s no warning. Last night, I caught a scorpion in my bedroom (I put it outside).
Falwell is 73 years old. That’s not that old nowadays. Still being found unconscious makes you think of either heart or stroke, both of which can be quite bad.
ccmask @ 205
Were his pants around his ankles?
selise @ 330
Thanks! Tuning in now.
Hugh @ 333
From March 1995
Falwell is taken off ventilator, upgraded to stable condition
LYNCHBURG, Va. (AP) — Doctors upgraded the Rev. Jerry Falwell’s condition from critical to stable on Wednesday and removed the Moral Majority founder from a ventilator.
Falwell, 71, has fluid in his lungs and doctors say he suffers from congestive heart failure, although a cardiologist, Dr. Carl Moore, said testing showed “his heart is strong” and he had not suffered a heart attack.
Surprised Falwell didn’t consider calling out 911.
OT.
I found out why Scammy Lanny Davis quit working for the Whitehouse. He’s busy making money off of anti-gay bigotry peddler E-Harmony.com.
Who would have known.
-GSD
Helen
Yes- and a woman’s coat, a bottle of KY Jelly, and a magnifying glass were found in the room. It’s a mystery.
selise @ 329
all this talk of falwe[oops]religion…
BLESS you selise!
selise @ 330
selise – thank you!!! i’ve come in on this story late and i am itching to hear this unfold in real time . . . and thank you all for blogging/commenting on this as well. fdl rocks.
Hugh @ 333
In all seriousness, I do not wish the suffering of any living thing. From the reporting, it is really bad.
LS @ 342
Yea, I hope the suffering ends very soon.
raven @ 336
That’s interesting because he has a history of heart problems. The other thing is that his wiki says he was born in 1933 but the article you cite would make his age closer to 83.
LS @ 343
I agree. It is fine to talk about the sum of Falwell’s life, but let’s try to keep things in good taste with no rejoicing at anyone’s illness.
Re Ashcroft in the hospital:
So, does the Bush WH thinks its OK to ask someone to sign an important order while under any kind of duress or incapacitation?
Nevermind Falwell. 5 more US troops dead and NO MSM coverage.
selise @ 330
Thank you, selise, for the sudio. And no CSPAN?, that’s a crime
…are God’s children, too.
Can you say that, Jerry? Sure, I knew you could.
I saw a refreshing bumper sticker: God Loves Everyone.
No Exceptions!
Milan River @ 347
apparently so
TheOtherWA @ 324
45 minutes ago (as I was driving) NPR Day-to-Day with Slate had a pretty long report on it, with a rushed and “breaking” tone. Reporter told story of Gonzo and Card coming in, then they played tape of Comey saying he was “stunned” when Ashcroft lifted up his head and gave a clear analysis. Then she (reporter) said “it gets better–” and talked about how Comey was going to resign, had a meeting with the president, Mueller met with him, etc. She left out the stuff about Cheney and Addington joining up with Gonzo and Card, but it was a pretty thorough report, without any spin to speak of.
This all leads me to believe that this is going to get a lot of play as a way of showing Bush doing the right thing, without a lot of questions about why or how the situation got to that point (and his role in that). Gonzo is just the old dog that keeps getting kicked. But the good news it that it will open up questions about domestic surveillance that haven’t been getting nearly enough attention. There’s a great G. Greenwald column about this issue from just this week, that’s very timely and should get proper attention now.
raven @ 344
707 me too. I’m all filled up on sympathy today.
Hugh @ 344
I’m sorry, that should be 2005, my bad.
Jim Clausen @ 330
Bravo!
We all ought to be hitting our Sens & Reps, AND the MSM, eh?!
CSpan may have missed the boat, but we know what happened [SEE SELISE’s #329].
Let’s go gang!
zhiv @ 352
thanks for the report
Hugh @ 307
I just knew today’s news was too neat and tidy. I mean if McNulty is where the buck stops, why didn’t anyone say so during the hearings?
5 more troops dead.
That IS refreshing.
Less refreshing, but entertaining nonetheless:
JESUS LOVES YOU
Everyone else thinks you’re an a**hole
Falwell’s going to be fine according to the comment above.
5 troops, however, are dead.
You know that is an incredibly silly statement. Congestive heart failure means that the heart is not being an efficient pump, its primary function. If someone has an exacerbation of CHF so severe as to require being put on a ventilator, the heart is not strong, period. It just might not have been further weakened by scarring from a heart attack.
LS @ 359
Oops. My bad. Wrong year.
5 troops dead.
Moral Majority, huh? Egads.
From RawStory:
Oldie but still true
The Moral Majority is neither.
(kinda like compassionate conservatism)
So these dudes were in a static defense position not on partol. That’s called “sitting ducks” where I come from.
“Falwell’s going to be fine according to…”
Well he may or may not be fine- but that comment was from a story that’s two years OLD!
msnbc – unconfirmed reports Falwell has died.
bmaz @ 122
I remember in 94 voting for the Democratic candidate for TX AG. (ISTR his name was Morales.) It would have been much better for the country if the Dems had won that year (in the various races, not just AG).
Breaking MSNBC…
“We have unconfirmed reports that Falwell has died.”
Milan River @ 346
If true, Bush would never have signed anything. He has spent his whole life incapacitated.
twolf1 @ 367
I’m listening to MSNBC and they are still reporting “gravely, serious”…
ccmask @ 352
did i miss something?
someone thinking of spotlighting selise’s link to C-Span? that sounds very sympathetic to me.
sure would beat the usual document dump…
MSNBC ~ Unconfirmed from inside sources – Falwell is dead!
fascinating stuff… it’s great you’re doing this live blogging – especially for those of us who didn’t get to see the hearing…
just as I suspected, Bush cronies get mad when you won’t let them break the law… this also paints Asscroft in a different light, though it may have been drugs (or fear of being held accountable) that led him to refuse to sign…
spurious @ 105
Hate to say it, but it looks like Jerry Falwell’s timing is pretty good.
rwcole @ 366
Sorry for the confusion, I posted that because it told of his medical history.
LS @ 370
The reporter they are talking to now said he heard Falwell died.
I don’t know if this post is going to land well. But I’ve been wondering if anyone thought of compiling all the portrait pictures (like the ones shown at the end of NewsHour) like the ones done of the VT victims?
Is there any acknowledgement anywhere of those who have fallen? Does anyone have a link. I’m thinking along the lines of the AIDS quilt, or similar. If any one knows I’d appreciate hearing about it. Thanks.
CNN still going with gravely serious condition
LS,
as a Calfornia girl – I mistakenly believed scorpions were only to be found in dry heat areas – found one in our bathroom 2nd week we were here – haven’t seen one since
From the Moral Majority Coalition website:
Our four-fold platform is:
(1) TMMC will conduct an intensive “Voter Registration Campaign” through America’s conservative churches, para-church ministries, pro-life and pro-family organizations.
(2) TMMC will conduct well organized “Get-Out-The-Vote Campaigns” in 2008.
(3) TMMC will engage in the massive recruitment and mobilization of social conservatives through television, radio, direct mail (U.S.P.S. and Internet) and public rallies.
(4) TMMC will encourage the promotion of continuous private and corporate prayer for America’s moral renaissance based on 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Come to daddy.
Pete Bogs @ 374
Or the only smidgen of integrity he really had, which was some adherence to the rule of law. Nothing else good about him, but that speaks of some small form of ethics on that single count.
MSNBC reporting that they have unconfirmed reports that Falwell has died.
do-si-do @ 378
http://www.fallenheroesmemorial.com/
http://www.arlingtonwestsantamonica.org/
selise, you are an angel!
The moral minority…
rwcole @ 327
they can for cases of impeachment. then the feds can take over for criminal.
do-si-do
you can go here
faces of the fallen
where you can look by State as well
it’s what I am referring to when I say politicians (of either stripe) can go “refresh’ themselves – beyond tragic !
selise @ 22
Got it. You are clutch!
Thanks selise.
Wonder whether the R’s will call off their debate tonight in honor of Falwell’s passing……
cbl @ 379
I find about 3 per year. They sting, but are not deadly unless you are allergic. At least they can’t run after you. I just put a glass over them, and a piece of cardboard under the glass and throw them outside. They live a long time. I saw one in my barn once carrying a bunch of babies on its back. They have a glowing chemical in them, that if you shine a blacklight on them in the dark you can detect them.
AP confirms Falwell is dead.
He has died per AP.
AP confirmed ~ Falwell dead.
can I get a Falwell died zed?
Falwell dies.
Falwell dead – cnn
Well, it may be a coincidence but my Cox Cable internet access went down 5 minutes before the hearing and just came back online about 20 minutes ago… My Vonage line went down simultaneously. Maybe it was the weather to the east of us in Missouri, who knows…
I already have a healthy paranoia about these neo-guys, all of em’, so this just adds fuel to the fire…
I know, it is delusional to consider my opinion might be so valuable that someone in power would want to stifle it, but at least I can wonder…
Rove’s web of lies is untangling, one lie at a time. But there are so many of them, we may all get lost in the abundance of deception.
With so much fodder for them to chew on, I hope our lawmakers will find a way to focus this DOJ investigation onto Rove and Bush (and where’s Cheney in all this, anyone who thinks he’s a non-player in anything so patently deceptive is patently naive.)
Falwell’s dead…
AP says Falwell dead, so says msnbc. Now Comey will get zero coverage the rest of the day. Great.
raven @ 395
Yes, you can Raven.
raven @ 384
Thank you, Raven. Am going there now.
jinny @ 389
wonder if any are crossing out & re-writing, scribbling like mad….
or, am I being too crass.
more attention on the fallen bushchenco “war” victims, please..
Breaking: Fallwell dead.
TheOtherWA @ 399
how convenient
cbl @ 380
Many scorpions in Texas.
Elliott @ 85
Thats two of us…:)
Seems likely that dems will start an impeachment investigation on Gonzo soon. There’s no major downside to it that I can see and it will at least be entertaining. That’s the risk Bush takes if he “stands by his man”- as Hillary put it.
JEP @ 398
ooooo eeeee ooooo
Not a Falwell fan by any strettch of the imagination but thoughts and prayers with his widow/children/grandchildren. God will judge him as he deserves.
Bearpaw @ 293
I guess I’ll abstain from making “too mean to die” remarks. OopS!
Fallwell has kicked the bucket. I trust he will get his reward.
dakine01 @ 408
amen
dakine, did you see the hearing?
Wormer…dead…Neidermier…dead….Falwell…dead.
Couldn’t resist.
TexBetsy @ 411
amen 2
Texas Betsy said
They are all over this area of NW Arkansas..
ccmask @ 399
in fact, how ’bout a ZAP!
Falwell was a big asshole- but now he’s dead.
God will judge him as he deserves.
There are actually people who don’t believe that.
Elliott @ 412
Nah, I couldn’t get the SJC feed to work. Went and did other things then came back and read Marcy’s wonderful coverage.
TheOtherWA @ 399
Relax. You should have stopped pinning any hopes on the media a long time ago. Neither public outrage nor Republican pangs of conscience are going to stop these people. Only the “meat grinder” of the law is going to do it.
cornyn wasn’t at the cmte hearing because he was in the halls trolling for the MSM cameras.
such a pretty-boy.
If true, may he rest in peace.
Today’s testimony and Marcy’s blogging have me totally invigorated. Thank you Marcy, FDL, Senator Schumer, Comey, and all the FDL posters.
raven @ 417
There are actually people who don’t believe that.
I sometimes like to hedge my bets just in case…
Eureka Springs @ 415
They are all over this area of NW Arkansas..
In TX, they are bark scorpions primarily. They live in the bark of trees and under rocks. They LOVE log houses. My friends have a gorgeous log house, and they get hundreds!!! I could not sleep in a house with a bunch of scorpions like that…shiver.
dakine01 @ 418
Try this audio link.
raven @ 395
I cannot stop laughing. Raven, would you like to share my handbasket? Cuz we’re headed that way.
a Falwell’s dead zed?!?!?
that’s cold…
But, then, so’s Jerry…
Is this some strange, cosmic “shiny object?”
What better way to distract all those pliant Evangelicals from the many political revelations coming out these days…
Just to foment some spiritual contemplation among those among us given to such mental meanderings, here’s a thought…not all pernicious conspiracies exist only on the mortal plane…
and far too many of ‘em migrated to DC!
(((TexBetsy))) – hope you got some relief yesterday from what ails ya
Elliott @ 404
others are picking up on it. AP put out a wire story (incomplete). Huffingtonpost has a link.
Jane has Falwell upstairs
cbl @ 428
Thanks so much! Today is a good day.
Wonder if the president will find time to attend Mr. Falwell’s funeral. Mr. Bush does not attend the funerals of those American soldiers he sent to their deaths in Iraq. As we know.
New Thread
Jerry Falwell RIP
rwcole @ 407
sure hope so. impeachment = you’re fired!
There are actually people who don’t believe that.
I sometimes like to hedge my bets just in case…
I hear ya, little Raven’s shrine has a Buddha, our lady of Guadalupe, Mexican candles, St Christopher Medals.
Pics
Is it worse ta type bad things about Jerry when he’s dead- or when he’s alive and might read em?
Helen @ 425
There used to be hot rod decals that said, “Speed on brother, hell’s only half full”!
Marcy, one more time: thanks!
raven @ 395
a “Falwell’s dead” zed?!?!?
that’s cold…
But, then, so’s Jerry…
Is this some strange, cosmic “shiny object?”
What better way to distract all those pliant Evangelicals from the many political revelations coming out these days…
Just to foment some spiritual contemplation among those among us given to such mental meanderings, here’s a thought…not all pernicious conspiracies exist only on the mortal plane…
First thing I did this morning in Hawaii after I got up, before breakfast, before my first cuppa, was to read through emptywheel’s liveblogs. THANK YOU, EW!!!
I hope to catch the replay on CSPAN.
Do we get to see here, in action, how Bush serves primarily as a front man for Cheney, Addington, Gonzales & Rove?
I’m looking forward now to Christy’s commentary — I hope! Please? Pretty please with butter and jam on it?
Bob in HI
Ugh, now we have to listen to these swarmy mofo’s go on and on about “Brother Falwell”. Good thing that mute button works.
I’m sorry for Falwell’s family and loved ones. He was a human being – just like the gay and lesbian and pagan people he hated. I hope they do not suffer; I hope he did not suffer.
If there is a post-mortem, I would not want to have be in the room. The man is filled with bile.
I will not miss his evil acts and his hate speech. Without him, I hope his jihadist schools lose funding and expire.
Jerry Fallwell, RIP. Look out, Jehovah.
sorry folks. can’t find much in me to sympathize over falwell dying. he was way too influential in the wrong sorts of ways for me to muster those feelings.
however – if you’ll find me evidence that falwell had any compassion for folks whose choices he called immoral, those whose hard times he claimed were their own fault because they were somehow morally corrupt (like victims of the hurricanes katrina & rita) then, well OK, maybe a thimble-full.
set yourself up as the moral paragon, you’re gonna fall, fall, fall.
frankly, it’s just like when lee atwater died of a brain tumor.
good f**kin’ riddance.
For the sake of his family and, yes, him as a human being, I am grateful that Falwell’s passing was apparently quick and, hopefully, painless.
For the sake of world peace, justice, humanity, mutual understanding and respect, I deeply regret the legacy Falwell felt compelled to foster during his lifetime.
that’s the best i can do texbetsy…
thank you for your gentle soul…
(((((PEACE)))))
cbl @ 388
Thanks cbl…see you on the Falwell thread.
brendan @ 418
Some coverage on AP (via Yahoo).
a pictorial tribute to many of the US troops who have died in Iraq
Dear Keith O. of MSNBC and MSM,
Please cover the Comey testimony tonight and for a while to come. Respectfully, Mr. Falwell was a human being, but don’t let his death overshadow or drown out today’s testimony by Comey. Hoping your people read our people.
rwcole @ 407
On what grounds? You cannot reach behind the veil to things he advised as WH Counsel…There’s still no “there” there…
Arlen Spector was quite the ass in this hearing, yes?
TexBetsy @ 452
ooohhhhh yesssss. awful.
debit @ 64
20 years and two days, no alcohol
18 years and 6 months, no tobacco
28 of my 56 years lived under Republican or GOP-lite trickery
I’m glad I sobered up when I did or I think my outrage would be nowhere up to the task at hand. I spent my initial sobriety watching Ollie North lie like hell and it really pissed me off.
When will the Republicans start using the line that sometimes you have to break the law to keep this great country free?? The fools in America bought it in 1987, they’ll buy it now.
clichy @ 454
Congrats on 20 yrs.
F#@* CHUCK SCHUMER!
He plays a good game out front, but behind closed doors this is the head prick of the DSCC who admits via fearmongering to championing through both Patriot Acts, the Bankruptcy Bill, stomping down Russ Feingold and working with REID to buy Lieberman’s return ticket.
It’s great tv to watch the hearings, but our Senate is hamstrung and useless now because of he and a few others pandering to ‘other’ interests.
Lamont’s voice and vote are sorely missed!
Woodhall Hollow @ 153
Don’t cry for Ashcroft…he’s teaching future Monica Goodlings at Regent University Law School in Virginia Beach.
Adie @ 453
Asses are known to bray when they panic.
when the president TRIES to claim abu torture can be an effective ag, the proper response HAS to be;
effective at what?…subverting the rule of law to suit whatever you want the justice system to do?”
hit them HARD, give them NO quarter, make it a NON debate
perris @ 459
yes and yes
Elliott @ 247
Not even government agencies like the Senate Judiciary committee?
OK, here comes the distraction…
Jerry Falwell was found unconscious and has died in Virginia around 2:00 pm.
How much you wanna bet this dominates the entire news cycle for the next three days straight through until some nonsense is released at 5 pm on Friday?
I wonder who in the White House was watching the Sopranos on Sunday night?
Hugh at 361: it’s called diastolic dysfunction. The ventricle’s ability to pump is preserved (hence normal ejection fraction) but the muscle is unable to relax. However, you’re right that it’s silly to say in this case also that the heart is healthy.
Basically, Falwell was probably dead when they found him. Outcome for unwitnessed arrest is extremely poor. Prob all this time rescussitation attempts have been unsuccessful and they’ve been speaking with the family, etc…
LS @ 262
Woowzzr, maybe I’ll be able to ebay that signed 1st edition after all.
Thank you for the live blog! Amazing goings on!
TexBetsy @ 427
Whoever supplied this link – THANK YOU! Schumer got right to the point didn’t he? Whoo!
Marcy,
Thank you for the great live blog. I know it’s not easy to get everything important down in the midst of the action. But you make it art. I was hooked from the first word. Couldn’t stop reading until the end. Thanks for blowing my morning. Looking forward to the recap.
bushie-gate!
Unbelievable details to come home and read — thanks to those who make staying informed possible.
hazmaq @ 457
I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but your discussion is incomplete. A lot of FDLers have noted that were it not for Chuck, Bush would have been able to push through a lot more really terrible Federal judges.
GSD @ 99
my suspicions had been growing…
just wow!!!
ian @ 283
I HOPE SO! About f***ing time!
And I hope an SP with b r o a d authority!
Bob in HI
Mr. Comey represents the unbelievable. Not in his testimony, which was about as sincere as you get, but in the very fact that at the time there were several in the mal-administration who possessed a modicum of decency. The more of them we lose such as this fellow the worse it gets.
Equally unbelievable is that Ashcroft was apparently on Comey’s side, or at least unwilling to override his decision. Despite being a talking in tongues bible thumper, Ashcroft (perhaps in his drug-induced state) did the right thing.
This little revelation ought to accelerate the end of the current mal-administration, but this has been stated nearly every week for the past two years, and there’s been no end in sight. So as horrific as the crimes alleged here, I suspect we will continue on as usual, in hopes that Dick finally vapor locks or we all simply survive until January 2008.
These liveblogs are great – thanks for all the hard work! SC
do-si-do @ 379
WaPo has had this running tribute from way back. It’s interactive. You just click on any face and it gives you all the particulars.
It’s also in chronological order. It’s also very sad.
http://gulcfac.typepad.com/geo…..script.pdf
This is via Balkinization, and it’s the pdf transcript of the Comey hearing.
spurious @ 231
Yeah, I was thinking this: If real terrorism had been at issue–tracking a nuke in a city, or a second 9/11, etc.–all these guys (Comey, Mueller and other “rule of law” types) would have stood down. I think the ethic–in this fear-driven law enforcement atmosphere–is, you do what you have to, and, if you’re honorable, you’re willing to take the legal consequences. If it’s real–a real threat that is being tracked.
But they wouldn’t stand down on the type of spying that Gonzo and Cabal were up to. So, a) the good guys didn’t think it had anything to do with real national security threats, and b) fought it like the devil, at the risk of their careers (and, who knows?, maybe their lives.)
Which raises the question: WHO were Gonzo and Cabal so hot to spy on, and WHY? Or, who were they already spying on, that they needed the legal cover that DoJ could give (via the sign-off), and, apparently needed it quite desperately?
Also: Why the rush, the panic? It reminds of the panic I sense in their actions around Plame and Brewster-Jennings. (–so many other ways to punish Joe Wilson, including simply ignoring him, and letting his dissent get swallowed up into the corporate news stream of forgetfulness).
Rushing to Ashcroft’s hospital bed in the middle of the night, to compel a signature from a very sick, drugged AG. ??? Why the rush? What was so compelling in their need to spy on people that they had to have an exemption from FISA rules RIGHT NOW, and/or that they couldn’t have taken to a FISA court for review afterwards (which the law allows)?
I think these are the two most important questions: Who were they spying on, that got people like Mueller and Comey so alarmed? And why were they exhibiting this bizarre behavior toward Ashcroft (that Mueller/Comey & Co. also clearly felt alarmed about)?
Something there we can’t see. The story as told by Comey today is NOT a story about legal niceties. It is a story with meaty underpinnings, causing people to rush around in a panic, either to force a questionable authorization from a sick AG (Gonzo et al), or to stop them from doing that, in a mode of alarm that indicates fear for the sick AG or fear for the country, or fears we know not of.
POSSIBLY all this was related to the deadline for the re-authorization of the spying program, but governments deal with deadlines all the time. They plan for them. Why did this come down to the wire in such a bizarro way? Someone upthread suggests they were spying on Comey and Ashcroft, and were thus alerted to their decision not to sign off on the spying program. That does make sense. And if they were spying on their own appointees, who WEREN’T they spying on?
March 2004. Two big things about to happen–the Abu Ghraib photos exposed (May 2004), and, of course, the election in November. (Also, the CA Sec of State Kevin Shelley was about to sue Diebold, decertify their touchscreens, and demand to see their source code–May 2004. By Aug. ‘04, he was hit with bogus corruption charges, and was driven from office in winter ‘04.)
Were they spying on Kerry (a la McGovern ‘72) and on anyone who could make trouble for them like Shelley, or like those who obtained and disclosed the torture photos or were in any position to witness/whistleblow on Bush Junta crime (a la Daniel Ellsberg)?
If they WERE doing political spying (and black ops), this would account for the REACTION of very, very establishment figures like Mueller and Comey. Just a guess, but I don’t think that legal niceties or CYA was THEIR motivation. Comey’s tale rings too true. He was not just trying to keep the Junta out of legal trouble, or save his own skin or his Dept.’s. And the scene he describes at the hospital does NOT seem like a struggle over mere legal principles, over differing philosophies, or proper or improper ways of fighting terrorism. That’s the sort of thing you do at the office and in meetings–not in desperate dashes up the stairs of hospitals in the middle of the night, while calling the head of the FBI on your cell phone to provide you and the sick AG with protection FROM TOP WHITE HOUSE AIDES.
Thank you, thank you, Marcy. I just heard about this testimony on NPR. Ari Shapiro did a pretty god job IMHO but your liveblogging has lots more detail. All I can say is wow.
“Which raises the question: WHO were Gonzo and Cabal so hot to spy on, and WHY? Or, who were they already spying on, that they needed the legal cover that DoJ could give (via the sign-off), and, apparently needed it quite desperately?”
Political enemies? What else is the “justice” department being used for these days?
Aaah, better late than never…or I’ve bee