Alberto Gonzales lied, the FBI spied.
In March, and again last month, the Justice Department’s inspector general and internal FBI reviews found that the bureau repeatedly misused its Patriot-Act power to subpoena e-mail or financial records without court orders. But years before the reviews were completed — and word of them became public — Attorney General Gonzales knew that the abuses surrounding so-called National Security Letters existed. And yet this is what he told Congress on April 27, 2005: “There has not been one verified case of civil liberties abuse.”
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=180432