GONZALES: Pressured Hospitalized Ashcroft to OK Spying

Politicstv

As the US Attorney scandal rages, another Alberto Gonzales scandal has flared up - this time concerning his pressuring then A.G. John Ashcroft to sign domestic spying orders when Ashcroft James B. Comey, former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, testifies on May 15th about an incident on the evening of March 10, 2004 (from Wikipedia):Comey, who was Acting Attorney General during the March 2004 surgical hospitalization of John Ashcroft, refused to "certify" central aspects of the NSA program at that time. The certification was required under existing White House procedures to continue the program. After Comey's refusal, the newspaper reported, Andrew H. Card Jr., White House Chief of Staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now Attorney General, made an emergency visit to the George Washington University Hospital, to attempt to win approval directly from Ashcroft for the program.