A Mass Resignation At The Justice Department Contemplated After Brazen Visit To Ashcroft's Hospital

[kpete]

A mass resignation at the Justice Department was contemplated in the days after Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card paid a brazen visit to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft on his hospital bed. Newsweek reports:

Back at the Justice Department, there is an equally extraordinary scene. Appalled by the White House’s heavy-handed attempt to coerce the gravely ill attorney general, virtually the entire top leadership of the Justice Department is threatening to resign. The group includes the director of the FBI, Robert Mueller, Associate Attorney General Robert McCallum and the chief of the Criminal Division, Chris Wray. Some of them gather in the conference room of Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who describes Ashcroft’s bravely turning away the president’s men from his hospital bed. The mood that night in the conference room was tense–and sober. “This was a showdown,” says a former senior Justice Department official who was there. “Everybody understood the choice they were making and the gravity of the situation. Everybody knew what the stakes were.” A different source estimated that as many as 30 top DOJ officials would have resigned.

.............

But the fight was really just beginning. Carefully reviewing Yoo's carte blanche memos, Goldsmith became convinced that the Justice Department had been signing off on memos approving initiatives, like wiretapping and water boarding, that were not legally supportable.

.....................

Bush's role has remained shadowy throughout the controversy over the eavesdropping program. But there are strong suggestions that he was an active presence.

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The morning after the scene at Ashcroft's hospital bed, the president met with Comey. "We had a full and frank discussion, very informed. He was very focused," Comey later testified, choosing his words carefully. But it wasn't until Bush had met with Mueller that the president agreed to take steps (still unspecified, but probably involving more oversight) to bring the eavesdropping program back inside the boundaries of the law. Mueller has never said what he told the president, but it is a good bet that he said he would resign if the changes were not made. Bush could not afford to see Mueller go, nor could he risk losing the rest of the Justice Department leadership over a matter of principle in an election year.

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more at:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18881810/site/newsweek/
via:
http://thinkprogress.org/

[annabanana]

1. That might have gotten people's attention.

Or would it have languished on page 22 below the fold, a 15 second blip before the third break commercials?

[jilln]

2. I am SO TIRED of reading this kind of BS!!!

People who KNEW what were going on and did nothing. They threaten to quit but don't. They threaten to make things public but don't. Then years later it comes out and we're supposed to be proud of them?

These people are just as guilty as the rest of the administration.

[frogcycle]

3. bastards

they let him off the hook.

It is clear that what he was pushing was way worse than what we have heard about.

That was enough to justify the showdown. The fact that he evidently threw them a bone - and they took it - does not justify their caving. They KNEW what sort of madman was in charge, and they KNEW he'd try again - and that he was probably lying when he said he was backing off. they enabled the further growth of the cancer.

[L. Coyote]

4. FISA-GATE thread: Campaign 2004: Were Bush / Cheney / NSA illegal wiretaps spying on Dems?

FISA-GATE thread: Campaign 2004: Were Bush / Cheney / NSA illegal wiretaps spying on Dems?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x925247
Excerpt:

THE COMPARISON:
#1.) The RNC hires a bozo crew of rogue CIA bunglers (who botched a Cuba invasion) and who get caught trying to place bugs in a political office, DNC HQ.
OR
#2.) The President of the USA and corrupt, bribe-paying operatives actually do intercept ALL communications of all the people investigating them and probably also the communications of those running against them before the 2004 and 2006 elections. AND, they carry out part of this scheme in the very Halls of Congress.

I'll call this, "POTUS, the Felons, Waaaa-aay Worse than Watergate, and Who Haven't They Bugged?"
If Watergate teaches us anything, it should be that corrupt Presidents will spy on Democrats. AND, don't believe the "I'm not a crook" crap. ...........

[Canuckistanian]

5. Then why didn't they resign after Gonzales became AG?

Did they think things were going to get better under Gonzo?

At least with Ashcroft there was a semblance of legality.