FBI Director: Gonzales Lied to Congress
Posted by Matt Ortega | July 26, 2007FBI Director Robert S. Mueller says that the March 2004 emergency meeting did in fact involve the domestic surveillance program disclosed in the December 2005 New York Times article. Director Mueller’s statements contradict sworn testimony of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate Judiciary Committee earlier this week.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said Thursday the government’s terrorist surveillance program was the topic of a 2004 hospital room dispute between top Bush administration officials, contradicting Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ sworn Senate testimony.
Mueller was not in the hospital room at the time of the dramatic March 10, 2004, confrontation between then-Attorney General John Ashcroft and presidential advisers Andy Card and Gonzales, who was then serving as White House counsel. Mueller told the House Judiciary Committee he arrived shortly after they left, and spoke with the ailing Ashcroft.
“Did you have an understanding that that the conversation was on TSP?” asked Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. TSP stands for terrorist surveillance program.
“I had an understanding the discussion was on a NSA program, yes,” Mueller answered.
Jackson asked again: “We use ‘TSP,’ we use ‘warrantless wiretapping,’ so would I be comfortable in saying that those were the items that were part of the discussion?”
“The discussion was on a national NSA program that has been much discussed, yes,” Mueller responded. [original emphasis from Firedoglake]
The report comes on the heels of calls from Democratic senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee for a special prosecutor to investigate whether Gonzales committed perjury and subpoenaed Karl Rove, the top political adviser in the Bush White House alongside Brick Tamland.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-San Francisco, Calif.) blog, The Gavel, has video from the House Judiciary Committee.
(Hat tip: Swopa, Firedoglake)
