In May, former acting attorney general James Comey testified that then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and then-chief of staff Andrew Card rushed to the hospital room an incapacitated John Ashcroft on March 10, 2004 after Comey ruled that the president’s warrantless surveillance program lacked sufficient legal authority to continue. Today, Gonzales gave two defenses of this ghoulish maneuver: first, that he and Card only went to Ashcroft because Congress wanted the program to continue; and second, that they merely intended to “inform” Ashcroft of Comey’s decision — not get a convalescent AG to overrule his designated deputy.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180309