FBI head's unhelpful notes on Gonzales-Ashcroft visit
by Frank James
Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has released the notes taken by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Robert Mueller that the head G-man made to record his recollections of the circumstances surrounding Alberto Gonzales's infamous visit to the hospital bed of then Attorney General John Ashcroft. (Download FBI director's notes)
The notes are so redacted that there's not much there we didn't already know about the 2003 visit by Gonzales and then White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card who wanted the ailing Ashcroft to authorize a warrantless surveillance program whose constitutionality the Justice Department questioned.
What it does show however is the frenetic level of meetings and phone calls that occurred after the hospital room incident.
Here's Conyer's press release on Mueller's notes:
Conyers and Davis Announce Further Investigation of Warrantless Surveillance
Release Notes from FBI Director Concerning Ashcroft Hospital Incident
The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert Mueller, has provided the House Judiciary Committee with notes requested by the Committee that he took recounting the circumstances surrounding the dramatic White House efforts to push then-Attorney General John Ashcroft to recertify a warrantless surveillance program that had already been rejected by the Justice Department.
“Director Mueller’s notes and recollections concerning the White House visit to the Attorney General’s hospital bed confirm an attempt to goad a sick and heavily medicated Ashcroft to approve the warrantless surveillance program,” said Conyers. “Particularly disconcerting is the new revelation that the White House sought Mr. Ashcroft’s authorization for the surveillance program, yet refused to let him seek the advice he needed on the program.
“Unfortunately, this heavily redacted document raises far more questions than it answers. We intend to fully investigate this incident and the underlying subject matter that evoked such widespread distress within the Department and the FBI. We will be seeking an unredacted copy of Director Mueller’s notes covering meetings before and after the hospital visit and expect to receive information from several of the individuals mentioned in the document.”
Director Mueller stated in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee that he recorded these notes because of the extraordinary nature of this encounter. The notes confirm the Congressional testimony about the hospital incident by former Deputy Attorney General, James Comey, who also explained that many DoJ leadership officials were prepared to resign over the matters discussed in the hospital incident.
"Director Mueller’s notes leave an unmistakable impression of a White House determined to do an end-around the constitution," said Rep. Artur Davis. "In addition, while too much of Director Mueller’s submission to the committee is still incomplete, what he provides us and what he testified to before the committee is at odds with the benign description the Attorney General provided under oath. The committee continues to be interested in the critical question of whether Alberto Gonzales was truthful rather than misleading when he testified to the House and Senate."
A copy of Director Mueller’s notes and the letter from the FBI providing them is attached.