We have documentation now, Congress. C’mon, is there another “Contempt of Congress” charge on the horizon?
Documents show that eight congressional leaders were briefed about the Bush administration’s terrorist surveillance program on the eve of its expiration in 2004, contradicting sworn Senate testimony this week by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
The documents, obtained by The Associated Press, come as senators consider whether a perjury investigation should be opened into conflicting accounts about the program and a dramatic March 2004 confrontation leading up to its potentially illegal reauthorization.
A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony.
At a heated Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday, Gonzales repeatedly testified that the issue at hand was not about the terrorist surveillance program, which allowed the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on suspects in the United States without receiving court approval.
Instead, Gonzales said, the emergency meetings on March 10, 2004, focused on an intelligence program that he would not describe.[..]
“The dissent related to other intelligence activities,” Gonzales testified at Tuesday’s hearing. “The dissent was not about the terrorist surveillance program.”
“Not the TSP?” responded Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. “Come on. If you say it’s about other, that implies not. Now say it or not.”
“It was not,” Gonzales answered. “It was about other intelligence activities.”
A four-page memo from the national intelligence director’s office shows that the White House briefing with the eight lawmakers on March 10, 2004, was about the terror surveillance program, or TSP.
2 Trackbacks To “BREAKING: Documents Contradict Gonzales’ testimony“
First!
More votes for reprimands… more harsh words… more nasty emails to Gonzo’s office… more of not a damned thing is really going to happen.
Wicked burn.
Clearly, Gonzales got into Harvard on some AFFIRMATIVE ACTION program, which is legalized discrimination… and now we see how UNQUALIFIED people advanced. The liberals are as much to blame for this crook as the Bushies.
Their not gonna’ do nuttin’.
Bush will just flip the bird and say FU!
What excuse will the prez come up to tell the US Attorney responsible for prosecuting these charges not to prosecute these charges?
And of course nothing will happen. Call me surprised. Perhaps we should just save the tax money and get rid of congress. They do nothing as it is anyway.
Let me guess…
WH: “The document was wrong…”
or
AG: “Oh shit, i fucked up. I ment to say…”
LIES LIES LIES!
The truth is always much easier to keep track of than a pack of lies, you keep having to lie about, then lie some more to cover for the lies you lied about.
( wow that even confused me )
That is why liars always eventually get caught.
Is there a link to this memo?
What do you expect from an Enron lawyer?
tbhull @ 6:
Executive Privilege
Please, God, get this man’s butt in a sling at last so we can get him the hell out of there.
Some of you are being so cynical. Would you prefer that nothing was done?
I think I got a blow job at a whore house in Acuna’s boystown some twenty years ago from this guy when he was wearing a wig, cheap lipstick and a cute dress. The dress has changed but his ability to take it has not.
L.A. Confidential @ 12:
Gonzo waived it when he lied yesterday. The toothpaste is out of the tube.
Another goddamn pardon.
Bill Clinton was almost impeached for less than this. C’mon, Democrats, grow some.
This is an episode of Star Trek, and AG has red shirt written all over him. What more do you need? Kick his *ss out of there!!!
I watched the entire hearing, and my recollection is that every time Gonzales mentioned the TSP, he added the phrase “that the President confirmed,” meaning the extent of the TSP that Bush confirmed to the American people. I think this is the key phrase. If there is ANY difference between the TSP “that the President confirmed” and the TSP over which Comey, Gonzales et al. were fighting, then Gonzales could claim that he was being technically accurate in his testimony, even though the intent obviously was to mislead Congress. I predict that this will happen — Gonzales will claim that the full TSP extended a bit beyond the boundaries which Bush described publicly (of course — when is the last time Bush described a so-called national security program in full?), so that it is technically true that there were “other intelligence activities” (a phrase Gonzales kept using at yesterday’s hearing) beyond the TSP that Bush had confirmed Gonzales will claim that the fight was over these other activities, and this will come down to a simple disagreement and thus, at best, a legal case against Gonzales for perjury and obstruction that will end in failure. As we have seen with Scooter Libby and elsewhere, when it comes to bringing the Bush Administration criminals to justice, it’s best not to get one’s hopes up even in the case of evidence that seems damning and incontovertible.
Blue Buddha @ 2:
More DEFEATISM from Blue Buddha.
And, btw, Buddha, “nothing is going to happen” is a description of nirvana, so I’m glad you are still spreading the dharma.
What is the sound of your asscheeks sitting? Why should you bother even whining, except the defeatism is such a thrill?
Better headline:
Gonzo contradicts Gonzo testimony
The man is an embarrassment and cover for the Bush Crime Family.
We who paid attention knew this going in… he should never have been confirmed.
Thanks, Joe “I love you, man” Biden et al..
…
Gonzales is too smug about his indiscretions. Perhaps he over-estimates his value to bush, except to keep his mouth shut. Perhaps Gonzales has reached the point of diminishing returns according to rove’s “math.” Perhaps Gonzales would be wise to look behind him every once in a while and develop a healthy sense of paranoia. He’s slowly becoming a severe liability to the cabal.
When the Attorney General of the U.S. lies like a filthy rug in front of the entire United States, what does that say about the man who appointed him and refuses to fire him?
I’ll say I will be pleasantly surprised if they follow through with this and get convictions.
I’m not going to get my hopes up to high though.
How can you get an embarrassment of a POTUS leading an embarrassment of an administration to recognize an embarrassment of an AG?
Wow, Gonzales is a liar. Who’d'a thunk it.
Alberto. Oh Alberto. Keep lying Al worst case scenario we give you a full pardon. Remember MUMS the word.
JudyLou @ 13:
Are we being cynical? Or are we just being realistic? Given the current track record of the Whore House right now can you doubt our skepticism? I prefer that if something were to be done…that something actually be done! That’s what I prefer. Until then, everything else is a waste of time! More self-appeasing, conscience-soothing, political posturing and mental masturbation I don’t need.
King of Mean @ 4:
Not “liberals” but Democrats. And only because they voted to confirm his nomination, in direct opposition to the advice they received from liberals.
Straight Shooter @ 22:
You are right mathematically speaking, but BushCo cannot replace him with another AG and keep a lid on the unconstitutional horrors that have taken place inside this most corrupt administration over the past years.
L.A. Confidential @ 12:
And that excuse won’t fly, and everyone knows it.
Since we need to remove both AG Fredo and USA Taylor, let them declare their executive privelege, and let us continue to use their illegal claims to privilege to further nail them to the wall.
INDICTMENTS as soon as possible, rather than an impeachment process with not enough votes to convict, which only would succeed in removing them from power, probably after a year, if there were votes.
Unlike impeachment, indictments ARE a criminal process from day one, and they continue until they reach the inevitable CONVICTIONS. Indeed, they are likely to reach convictions AFTER Bushco has been forced from office, so therefore after the pardon power is gone.
LA Confidential’s defeatism notwithstanding. How easy it is to whine and do nothing. Those of us who actually protest and work for change — what suckers. And me, sucker that I am for change, will be in the streets tonight, and again on Friday, and on it goes. Maybe you, LA C, can get together at a bar with some of your fellow defeatists and maybe knock over a trash can on your way home.
Censure
Impeach
Indict (on war crimes)
Imprison (in the Hague)
Gonzo, Cheney, Rice and Bush
I present here all these unrelated words.
Gonzoles.
Dr. Evil’s Board Room.
Trapdoor Chair.
Flames.
Thank You.
Is it just me?
What’s so wrong with the nation’s top law enforcement officer being a pathalogical liar?
The Perrspectives Bush-GOP Scandal Document Library has been expanded to include the latest news, key reports, document releases and other essential materials surrounding Bush administration and GOP wrong-doing. From the U.S. attorneys purge, illegal NSA domestic surveillance and the Iraq war to PlameGate, torture scandals and the ongoing Jack Abramoff fall-out, it’s all there:
U.S. Attorneys Scandal Document Center
NSA Domestic Surveillance Scandal Center
Iraq Intelligence and WMD Document Center
Plamegate CIA Leak Resources
Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff Scandal Resources
For more, visit the Perrspectives Document Library here.
phlounder @ 33:
Everything and nothing.
The Bush-GOP Scandal Document Library has been expanded to include the latest news, key reports, document releases and other essential materials surrounding Bush administration and GOP wrong-doing. From the U.S. attorneys purge, illegal NSA domestic surveillance and the Iraq war to PlameGate, torture scandals and the ongoing Jack Abramoff fall-out, it’s all there:
- U.S. Attorneys Scandal Document Center
- NSA Domestic Surveillance Scandal Center
- Iraq Intelligence and WMD Document Center
- Plamegate CIA Leak Resources
- Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff Scandal Resources
For more, visit the Perrspectives Document Library here.
Maybe if Gonzo mislead congress about getting a blowjob from an intern at least the Republicans would be onboard for impeachment……oh, that’s right, nevermind, that’s reserved only for a twice elected Democrat they are trying to overthrow not for matters of warmongering and constitutional crisis.
serious question:
why did specter tell gonzo to reconsider what he’d said, to think about it because he may want to change his testimony? why???
he lied. that’s it. perjury.
…
Once again, the real problem in this country is SPINELESS DEMOCRATS. Listening to Dodd and Conyers and Pelosi and all the rest of those worthless assholes make excuses why they don’t impeach, is just disgusting. It, and they, turn my stomach.
Republicans are just naturally evil; they can’t help themselves. But Democrats - they have no excuse. They, as much as Bush, are responsible for this mess.
A Gonzales spokesman maintained Wednesday that the attorney general stands by his testimony.
Well, it must be o.k. then. Just wanted to share this clip.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=P68.....mp;search=
Paul in LA @ 30:
It’s not defeatism. It’s simply the way things are. If your such a freaking genius lay out your game plan of action for us.
Bush knows that the Democrats don’t have the guts to stop his rampage through the government.
Indictment, please.
Punks with power. They really know how to jerk Congress around, don’t they. I know as a rule it takes a long time for a lot of people (ie Congress) to get something done, but enough already.
I used to think of Gonzales as sort of like a sleazy tax attorney, cheating his way through his work…for the client, for himself. He’s so much worse though. This is bottom of the barrel mankind. He’ll justify anything, lie about anything for position and power.
Clinton’s Fault
L.A. Confidential @ 41:
Do not waste your effort on Paul in LA as he will argue against impeachment at every turn. In fact, I think he would put his self-proclaimed skills as a street protester to work and oppose impeachment in a Dallas anti-impeachment march.
Paul in LA is afraid of impeachment. His argument against impeachment at all costs is a loser. Any indictments will take years (assuming a US Attorney decides to prosecute) and if any are successful; during this administration’s term they will be met with a swift pardon Paul knows how rto protest on a street, but he has no plan on how to win a bigger fight as this one represents. That is why he will post for hours on impeachment is not a good idea. Cowards never lead and leaders are never cowards.
Gonzo - “I don’t recall.”
Reid/Pelosi - “okay, don’t let it happen again”
Yawn…Somebody pass them some Balls please.
Enough with the threats already…………DO SOMETHING!!! File Contempt charges, Something…please.
Oh, I forgot, August Recess….
This TSP program that allows spying on Americans is not about spying on terror suspects. It’s about spying on Democrats. how come they can’t figure it out.
The scary thing is, I don’t think Gonzo wouldn’t be such a blatant liar unless he knew he could get away with it.