Long before he was internationally infamous as the Homeland Security secretary who dithered while New Orleans drowned, Michael Chertoff helmed the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, placing him at the top of all federal criminal prosecutions. He left the position in 2003 to take a federal judgeship — but not before severely misconstruing, under oath, a chain of events in the 2001 interrogation of “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh. As it turns out, a sworn statement, made by an attorney in the division’s Terrorism and Violent Crime Section, John De Pue, contradicts Chertoff’s testimony to Congress, something that can’t bode well for his rumored nomination for attorney general.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180041