The Bush Administration is caught in a massive hail storm, though what's falling from the sky is more brown and odorous than ice. The fired U.S. Attorney probe keeps moving along and revealing new evidence, the Vice President keeps allegedly breaking laws, the White House keeps publicly contradicting itself, and officials keep resigning.
Yesterday, the hail storm intensified when the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department, White House, Vice President, and National Security Council for documents relating to the Administration's illegal wiretapping program. (See press release)
Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said the Committee formally asked at least nine times for the White House and Justice Department to give information about the wiretapping program, but they refused to hand it over (Washington Post). Leahy commented:
"I’ve never known an administration so willing to operate outside the law, even to operate against the law, in violation of the law, as this administration." (The Hill)
Yes, Leahy is old enough to clearly remember Nixon's Watergate. The Bush Administration brushed off the subpoenas as partisan political stunts -- though the committee's three most senior Republicans voted for the subpoenas: Arlan Specter (PN), Orrin Hatch (UT), and Charles Grassley (Iowa). (AP/Salt Lake Tribune)
See subpoena packets for: White House, Vice President, Justice Department, and National Security Council.
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