White House, Cheney's office subpoenaed
By LAURIE KELLMAN - Associated Press Writer
Updated: 06/27/07 3:35 PM
http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/107835.html
The Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the White House
and Vice President Dick Cheney's office Wednesday for
documents relating to President Bush's controversial
eavesdropping program that operated warrant-free for five
years.
Also named in subpoenas signed by committee Chairman Patrick
Leahy, D-Vt., were the Justice Department and the National
Security Council. The four parties have until July 18 to
comply, according to a statement by Leahy's office.
The committee wants documents that might shed light on
internal disputes within the administration over the
legality of the program, which Bush put under court review
earlier this year.
"Our attempts to obtain information through testimony of
administration witnesses have been met with a consistent
pattern of evasion and misdirection," Leahy said in his
cover letters for the subpoenas. "There is no legitimate
argument for withholding the requested materials from this
committee."
Echoing its response to previous congressional subpoenas to
former administration officials Harriet Miers and Sara
Taylor, the White House gave no indication that it would
comply.
"We're aware of the committee's action and will respond
appropriately," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
"It's unfortunate that congressional Democrats continue to
choose the route of confrontation."
In fact, the Judiciary Committee's three most senior
Republicans - Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, former chairman
Orrin Hatch of Utah and Chuck Grassley of Iowa - sided with
Democrats on the 13-3 vote last week to give Leahy the power
to issue the subpoenas.
The showdown between the White House and Congress could land
in federal court.
Leahy's committee and its counterpart in the House have
issued the subpoenas as part of a sweeping look at how much
influence the White House exerts over the Justice Department
and its chief, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The probe, in its sixth month, began with an investigation
into whether administration officials ordered the firings of
eight federal prosecutors, for political reasons. The House
and Senate Judiciary committees previously had subpoenaed
Miers, one-time legal counsel, and Taylor, a former
political director, in that probe.
But with senators of both parties already concerned about
the constitutionality of the administration's efforts to
root out terrorism suspects in the United States, the
committee shifted to the broader question of Gonzales'
stewardship of Justice and his willingness to go along with
the wiretapping program.
The Bush administration secretly launched the spy program,
run by the National Security Agency, in 2001 to monitor
international phone calls and e-mails to or from the United
States involving people the government suspected of having
terrorist links. The program, which did not require
investigators to seek warrants before conducting
surveillance, was revealed in December 2005.
After the program was challenged in court, Bush put it under
the supervision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance
Court, established in 1978. The president still claims the
power to order warantless spying.
Debate continues over whether the program violates people's
civil liberties, and the administration has gone to great
lengths to keep it running with extensive presidential
discretion.
Piquing the committee's interest was vivid testimony last
month by former Deputy Attorney General James Comey about
the extent of the White House's effort to override the
Justice Department's objections to the program in 2004.
Comey told the Judiciary Committee that Gonzales, then-White
House counsel, tried to get Attorney General John Ashcroft
to reverse course and recertify the program. At the time,
Ashcroft lay in intensive care, recovering form gall bladder
surgery.
Ashcroft refused, as did Comey, to whom Ashcroft had
temporarily shifted the power of his office during his
illness.
The White House recertified the program unilaterally.
Ashcroft, Comey, FBI Director Robert Mueller and their
staffs prepared to resign. Bush ultimately relented and made
changes to the classified program that the Justice officials
had demanded, and the agency eventually recertified it.
The fight was one of the most bitter disputes of the Bush
presidency and questions remain over whether the program
tramples people's civil liberties. The administration says
the program is crucial to preventing more terrorist attacks.
Fratto defended the surveillance program as "lawful" and
"limited."
"It's specifically designed to be effective without
infringing Americans' civil liberties," Fratto said. "The
program is classified for a reason - its purpose is to track
down and stop terrorist planning. We remain steadfast in our
commitment to keeping Americans safe from an enemy
determined to use any means possible - including the latest
in technology - to attack us."
Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the subpoena to
Gonzales is under review and that the department recognizes
Congress' oversight role.
"We must also give appropriate weight to the confidentiality
of internal executive branch deliberations," he said.
Majority Democrats and some Republicans are skeptical and
have sought to find out more details about the program and
how it has been administered.
Leahy's panel is required to serve the subpoenas to specific
people within the offices named. One is addressed to
Gonzales, while the others are addressed to: David S.
Addington, Cheney's chief of staff; White House Chief of
Staff Joshua Bolten, V. Phillip Lago, executive secretary of
the National Security Council - or "other custodian of
records" in their offices.
The subpoenas themselves seek a wide array of documents on
the program from the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to the present.
Among them are any documents that include analysis or
opinions from Justice, the National Security Agency - which
administers the program - the Defense Department, the White
House, or "any entity within the Executive Branch" on the
legality of the electronic surveillance program.
http://www.buffalonews.com/260/story/107835.html
-------------------
Congress subpoenas White House on warrantless wiretaps
Bush faces
eavesdropping subpoena
|
US citizens' overseas telephone
calls were monitored
|
The US Senate
has issued a subpoena ordering the White House to
give up documents related to its surveillance of
domestic terror suspects.
The Senate Judiciary Committee asked the Bush
administration to give up the papers as part of its
inquiry into the controversial spying programme.
The administration has refused a series of
requests to release the documents.
The president rejects claims that he broke the
law by ordering surveillance without first securing
warrants.
The programme, authorised after the 9/11 attacks,
enabled the government to monitor the overseas
e-mail and telephone communications of Americans
suspected of ties to terrorists.
While the president says his wartime powers
allowed him to authorise surveillance without the
need for a warrant, critics say he violated
Americans' civil liberties.
The secret spying programme became public in
2005.
July deadline
The Senate Judiciary Committee's subpoenas target
the White House, Vice-President Dick Cheney, the
National Security Council and the Department of
Justice.
Their intention is to shed light on any
discussion that may have taken place within the
administration on the legality of the spying
programme.
"Our attempts to obtain information through
testimony of administration witnesses have been met
with a consistent pattern of evasion and
misdirection," the Senate Committee's chairman,
Patrick Leahy, says.
"There is no legitimate argument for withholding
the requested materials from this committee."
The White House has until 18 July to comply with
the demand, according to the Democratic-led Senate
committee.
It is unclear whether it will do so, or mount a
legal challenge to the subpoena.
"We're aware of the committee's action and will
respond appropriately," a White House spokesman told
the Associated Press news agency.
"It's unfortunate that congressional Democrats
continue to choose the route of confrontation."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6247404.stm
|
Senate Panel Subpoenas White House Wiretapping Papers
(Update2)
By William Roberts
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in Washington yesterday June
27 (Bloomberg) -- A Senate panel probing the National
Security Agency's domestic wiretapping program issued
subpoenas to the White House, Vice President Dick Cheney and
the Justice Department for documents showing the Bush
administration's legal justification for the secret
surveillance.
``This committee has made no fewer than nine formal requests
to the Department of Justice and to the White House, seeking
information and documents about the authorization of and
legal justification for this program,'' Vermont Democrat
Patrick Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee,
wrote in letters accompanying the subpoenas.
Those requests were ``rebuffed'' by a ``pattern of evasion
and misdirection'' from administration officials, Leahy
said.
The panel authorized Leahy to issue subpoenas on the secret
surveillance on June 21. The panel is reviewing whether the
White House properly developed a legal basis for the
classified eavesdropping on the international phone calls
and e-mails of suspected terrorist agents that was disclosed
in December 2005.
President George W. Bush claimed authority to order the
eavesdropping as commander-in-chief after the Sept. 11
attacks. The program allowed monitoring without a court
order of communications into or out of the U.S. when one of
the parties was suspected of having ties to terrorists.
Judicial Review
The Bush administration agreed earlier this year to allow
the program to be subjected to review by the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance court.
``The terrorist surveillance program is lawful, limited,
safeguarded and -- most importantly -- effective in
protecting American citizens from terrorist attacks,'' said
White House spokesman Tony Fratto. ``It's specifically
designed to be effective without infringing Americans' civil
liberties.''
The subpoenas seek documents related to the authorization of
the program, agreements between the administration and
telecommunications companies regarding liability for
assisting the surveillance and information about the
shutting down of an investigation of the surveillance by the
Department of Justice's Office of Professional
Responsibility.
``We hope the White House doesn't stonewall on this issue
that's vitally important to what America is all about,'' New
York Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=al4GhY0zUy0w&refer=home
