WP:FBI Director's Notes Contradict Gonzales's Version Of Ashcroft Visit

[cal04]

Then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was "feeble," "barely articulate" and "stressed" moments after a hospital room confrontation in March 2004 with Alberto R. Gonzales, who wanted Ashcroft to approve a warrantless wiretapping program over Justice Department objections, according to notes from FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III that were released yesterday.

One of Mueller's entries in five pages of a daily log pertaining to the dispute also indicated that Ashcroft's deputy was so concerned about undue pressure by Gonzales and other White House aides for the attorney general to back the wiretapping program that the deputy asked Mueller to bar anyone other than relatives from later entering Ashcroft's hospital room.

Mueller's description of Ashcroft's physical condition that night contrasts with testimony last month from Gonzales, who told the Senate Judiciary Committee that Ashcroft was "lucid" and "did most of the talking" during the brief visit. It also confirms an account of the episode by former deputy attorney general James B. Comey, who said Ashcroft told the two men he was not well enough to make decisions in the hospital.

(snip)
The records show that Mueller met with Vice President Cheney in connection with the dispute later in the month, on March 23. A paragraph describing that meeting is also censored.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) asked the Justice Department's inspector general yesterday to investigate whether Gonzales has misled lawmakers in those and other statements, including some related to last year's controversial firings of nine U.S. attorneys. Other Democrats have asked for a full perjury investigation.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/16/AR2007081601358.html?hpid=topnews

[Adsos Letter]

1. Shouldn't there be an independent counsel assigned to this?

:shrug: