Following up on an item from late yesterday, FBI Director Robert Mueller agreed to share (redacted) notes he took about the now-infamous hospital visit with John Ashcroft in 2004 with the House Judiciary Committee. Chairman Conyers emphasized revelations about the White House seeking Ashcroft’s authorization for Bush’s warrantless surveillance program.
But let’s not overlook that Mueller’s notes have also caught Alberto Gonzales in yet another huge, demonstrable lie.
Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was “feeble,” “barely articulate” and “stressed” moments after a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to notes from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that were released yesterday.
One of Mueller’s entries in five pages of a daily log pertaining to the dispute also indicated that Ashcroft’s deputy was so concerned about undue pressure by Gonzales and other White House aides for the attorney general to back the wiretapping program that the deputy asked Mueller to bar anyone other than relatives from later entering Ashcroft’s hospital room.
Mueller’s description of Ashcroft’s physical condition that night contrasts with testimony last month from Gonzales, who told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Ashcroft was “lucid” and “did most of the talking” during the brief visit. It also confirms an account of the episode by former deputy attorney general James B. Comey, who said Ashcroft told the two men he was not well enough to make decisions in the hospital.
Got that? Gonzales publicly testified (remember, lying to Congress is a crime) that Ashcroft was cogent and communicating when Gonzales and Card went to his hospital room to take advantage of him. James Comey has already testified under oath that Gonzales was lying, and now FBI Director Mueller is confirming Comey’s account.
I’ve long since given up keeping track of all the times Gonzales has been caught lying, so I no longer hold any hope that the mendacity will reach a critical mass that will force the AG’s departure. But I am curious how Gonzales’ backers can continue to rationalize obvious falsehoods. Do conservatives now believe Attorneys General are free to lie to Congress? Will this standard apply to a Democratic Attorney General, too?
Spencer Ackerman notes another interesting revelation.
[T]he only non-redacted portion of the notes concerns the Ashcroft hospital visit, which takes up only a scant four paragraphs. Ashcroft — who, contrary to Gonzales’ portrayal, is described in Mueller’s notes as “feeble, barely articulate, clearly stressed” — isn’t talking about what happened during the visit. But Mueller reveals something intriguing. According to the FBI director, Ashcroft tells Card and Gonzales that “he was barred from obtaining the advice he needed on the program” — again, note program, singular — “by the strict compartmentalization rules of the [White House.]” Now that’s cronyism! For the first time, there’s the suggestion that even John Ashcroft — the attorney general of the United States and by all accounts a loyal Bushie — didn’t know all there was to know about the warrantless surveillance efforts. Apparently, Ashcroft wasn’t considered trustworthy enough to be kept in the loop on the most legally controversial program of them all — though his counterpart at the White House, and eventual successor, clearly was.
And Anonymous Liberal has more on this in an excellent, detailed analysis.
I think the conventional wisdom is that this scandal has largely run its course. It hasn’t.