Democrats May Subpoena N.S.A. Documents
By JAMES RISEN
New York Times
WASHINGTON, June 7 — Senior House Democrats threatened Thursday to issue subpoenas to obtain secret legal opinions and other documents from the Justice Department related to the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program.
If the Democrats take that step, it would mark the most aggressive action yet by Congress in its oversight of the wiretapping program and could set the stage for a constitutional showdown over the separation of powers.
The subpoena threat came after a senior Justice Department official told a House judiciary subcommittee on Thursday that the department would not turn over the documents because of their confidential nature. But the official, Steven G. Bradbury, principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel, did not assert executive privilege during the hearing.
The potential confrontation over the documents comes in the wake of gripping Senate testimony last month by a former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey, who described a confrontation in March 2004 between Justice Department and White House officials over the wiretapping program that took place in the hospital room of John Ashcroft, then attorney general. Mr. Comey’s testimony, disclosing the sharp disagreements in the Bush administration over the legality of some N.S.A. activities, has increased Congressional interest in scrutinizing the program.
(Continued here.)
New York Times
WASHINGTON, June 7 — Senior House Democrats threatened Thursday to issue subpoenas to obtain secret legal opinions and other documents from the Justice Department related to the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program.
If the Democrats take that step, it would mark the most aggressive action yet by Congress in its oversight of the wiretapping program and could set the stage for a constitutional showdown over the separation of powers.
The subpoena threat came after a senior Justice Department official told a House judiciary subcommittee on Thursday that the department would not turn over the documents because of their confidential nature. But the official, Steven G. Bradbury, principal deputy assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department’s office of legal counsel, did not assert executive privilege during the hearing.
The potential confrontation over the documents comes in the wake of gripping Senate testimony last month by a former deputy attorney general, James B. Comey, who described a confrontation in March 2004 between Justice Department and White House officials over the wiretapping program that took place in the hospital room of John Ashcroft, then attorney general. Mr. Comey’s testimony, disclosing the sharp disagreements in the Bush administration over the legality of some N.S.A. activities, has increased Congressional interest in scrutinizing the program.
(Continued here.)
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1 Comments:
When are the Democrats going to start helping the middle class as they promised in the 2006 campaign? I distinctly remember Amy Klobuchar telling us the field is tilted against the middle class and she was going to help balance that.
But what have we seen instead? Witch hunt after witch hunt of opposition members whether it is Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, and on and on.
I was glad the GOP got booted out of office in 2006 because they had ruined their credibility by their own accord - they deserved to lose. I was willing to give the Democrats a chance to deliver on what they had promised and was going to reserve judgement after seeing some results. And this is all we get - political wrangling and subpoenas of NSA documents on another witch hunt?
What happened to the middle class they had courted during the election? We're here and we're waiting! Or were the political witch hunts the main goal all along?
As bad as the GOP failed in Congress with their earmarks and solidfying their safe districts, the Democrats haven't done anything remotely close to what they campaigned on. No wonder Congress approval ratings are the same now as they were before the election. Judgement has been rendered and the Democrats are failing miserably. Didn't they learn anything from the GOP failures?
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