Alberto Gonzalez, today, testified that Bush personally blocked the U.S. Justice departments probe into the illegal NSA eavesdropping program. The group of lawyers who were probing the way that the justice department and other government agencies developed and conducted the program was personally blocked by Bush when he refused to grant them clearance to see information on the program.
But, of course, Bush granted full access to another branch of the U.S. Justice department to probe into who leaked the information to the New York Times last year. Once again, Bush pulls out the "secret" stamp when it benefits him, even when he is allowing others to do the exact same thing when it would benefit him.
Gonzales, of course does whatever the president says. It used to be the job of the AG to be independent of the president. The Republicans spent years complaining about Janet Reno and how she was not independent from Clinton
PAUL GIGOT: ...if you’re a Republican, I think, to make the case that she’s [Janet Reno] not independent; that this Justice Department has not done a capable job of this investigation; you do have a politicized Justice Department, which isn’t doing the people’s business of making politicians accountable. - The News Hour, December 5, 1997
Bush claimed that he was going to run the presidency on a higher level than Clinton. He said that he was going to restore dignity and trust to the oval office. Instead, he has stripped the office of trust more than any president in the last 100 years besides Nixon.
Again, I guess that is just double speak. By "dignity and trust", he really meant "lies and deceit"
Bush Blocked Eavesdropping Program Probe
By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 18, 2006; 4:37 PM
WASHINGTON -- President Bush personally blocked a Justice Department investigation of the anti-terror eavesdropping program that intercepts Americans' international calls and e-mails, administration officials said Tuesday.
Bush refused to grant security clearances for department investigators who were looking into the role Justice lawyers played in crafting the program, under which the National Security Agency listens in on telephone calls and reads e-mail without court approval, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Without access to the sensitive program, the department's Office of Professional Responsibility closed its investigation in April.
"It was highly classified, very important and many other lawyers had access. Why not OPR?" Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the committee chairman, asked Gonzales.
"The president of the United States makes the decision," Gonzales replied.
Later, at the White House, spokesman Tony Snow said the eavesdropping program is reviewed every 45 days by senior officials, including Gonzales. The president did not consider the Justice unit that functions as a legal ethics watchdog to be the "proper venue," Snow said.
"What he was saying is that in the case of a highly classified program, you need to keep the number of people exposed to it tight for reasons of national security, and that's what he did," Snow said.
Yet, according to OPR chief Marshall Jarrett, "a large team" of prosecutors and FBI agents were granted security clearances to pursue an investigation into leaks of information that resulted in the program's disclosure in December. Justice Department inspector general Glenn A. Fine and two of his aides were among other department officials who were granted clearances, Jarrett said in an April memo explaining the end of his probe. That memo was released by the Justice Department Tuesday.
(Full Story)
Bush Thwarted Probe Into NSA Wiretapping
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