Word: ashcrofts
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...James Comey, a former Deputy Attorney General, who unspooled a vivid tale in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee about the night in March 2004 when he raced to the hospital to prevent two top White House aides from taking advantage of his critically ill boss, John Ashcroft, in a dispute over the Administration's secret domestic eavesdropping program. Comey was acting Attorney General while Ashcroft was incapacitated by pancreatitis. Like his boss, Comey had come to believe that President George W. Bush's surveillance program was illegal. The White House wanted it renewed. Comey refused. And so who turned...
When then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales went to John Ashcroft's hospital room on the evening of March 10, 2004 to ask the ailing Attorney General to override Justice Department officials and reauthorize a secret domestic wiretapping program, he was acting inappropriately, Ashcroft's deputy at the time, James Comey, testified before Congress earlier this week. But the question some lawyers, national security experts and Congressional investigators are now asking is: Was Gonzales in fact acting illegally...
...dramatic testimony Tuesday, Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he raced to the intensive care unit of George Washington University Hospital that evening to intercept Gonzales and White House chief of staff Andrew Card and prevent them from convincing Ashcroft to reauthorize the program after Justice Department lawyers had concluded that it was illegal. Comey, who during Ashcroft's stay in the hospital was acting Attorney General, has told Congressional investigators that when he arrived at the room and began explaining to Ashcroft why he was there, he was intentionally "very circumspect" so as not to disclose classified information...
...envelope, and Mr. Card. They came over and stood by the bed. They greeted the Attorney General very briefly. And then Mr. Gonzales began to discuss why they were there - to seek his approval for a matter, and explained what the matter was - which I will not do." Ashcroft bluntly rebuffed Gonzales, but Comey's unwillingness publicly to say what Gonzales said in the hospital room has raised questions about whether Gonzales may have violated executive branch rules regarding the handling of highly classified information, and possibly the law preventing intentional disclosure of national secrets...
...next month, the government tried to make a court case against Padilla. But on June 9, he was abruptly classified as an "enemy combatant" - someone who engaged in battle against the U.S. - and thrown into the brig at a South Carolina naval base. The following day in Moscow, Ashcroft announced Padilla's capture as "a significant step forward in the war on terrorism...