We now know that in 2004 Gonzales and Andy Card raced to the hospital to try to get a very sick John Ashcroft to certify the legality of the president’s secret NSA surveillance program going over the head of Comey, the acting attorney general while Ashcroft was ill. When Ashcroft refused to override Comey, the White House reauthorized the program without DoJ certification. The question now is whether in so doing, the White House did something illegal, improper, neither, or both.
From Slate Magazine
AG Ashcroft and Acting AG Comey deserve a lot of respect for refusing to go along with the Whitehouse. Doubly so when you put it in the context of Ashcroft in a hospital bed and Comey rushing to his side to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice.
