Senator Feingold on Gonzales
07 February 2006 11:34 am by Taylor Marsh
Senator Feingold on Gonzales
At yesterday’s hearing, I reminded
the Attorney General about his testimony during his confirmation hearings in
January 2005, when I asked him whether the President had the power to authorize
warrantless wiretaps in violation of the criminal law. We didn't know it then,
but the President had authorized the NSA program three years before, when the
Attorney General was White House Counsel. At his confirmation hearing, the Attorney
General first tried to dismiss my question as "hypothetical" before
stating "it's not the policy or the agenda of this President to authorize
actions that would be in contravention of our criminal statutes." Yesterday,
he tried to claim that he had told the truth at that hearing, bringing the parsing
of words to new lows. I think it is clear that the Attorney General misled the
Committee and the public not only about the NSA wiretapping program but about
his views on presidential power. That broader issue was central to the debate
over his nomination. The Attorney General's lack of candor adds to the already
mounting credibility problem that this Administration faces.
Senator
Russ Feingold
It's a must read from Russ.
