Round 3: Gonzo's testimony sums up in one word...

Hosed...

Several interesting Q & As on Gonzo on FDL:

SEN. SCHUMER QUESTIONS: When you went to Ashcroft’s ICU room, did you know that power had been tranferred to Jim Comey? Gonzales says that this was probably something that he knew. Schumer says — wait a minute, dod you know or not? Gonzales says that there was no governing legal principle that precluded Ashcroft from taking back that authority if he felt that he could do so. {CHS notes: And if he did so while sedated and drugged, and didn’t actually know what he was doing or saying, how much authority, exactly, would said taking back of authority have? Jeebus…] Did you know that his wife had barred all visitors because of how ill he was? Gonzales says he thinks he may have known something about that. Gonzales doesn’t recall personally having the paperwork on the transfer of authority to Comey from Ashcroft — but he doesn’t have any recollection of that information. Schumer asks for copies of those documents. Gonzales says he’ll try to do that — Schumer says he’d like it by Friday. Gonzales says that Ashcroft did most of the talking in the hospital room. Who sent you to the hospital room? Gonzales says they’d had an important meeting ath the WH…”I’ll just say that the Chief of Staff and Counsel went on behalf of the President of the United States. That’s the answer I can give you.” Schumer — that doesn’t answer my question — can you tell me why you cannot answer that question? You are before this committee, you are supposed to answer questions, you have not claimed any privilege — why can you not answer that question? Gonzales says that it relates to activities that occurred when I was in the WH. Did the Veep send you? We were there on behalf of the President.

Did you talk to the Vice President about this visit? We were there on behalf of the President. So you can’t answer the question? Gonzo: I will take this back and see if I can answer it.

Did the Gang of Eight know that top level officials at the DOJ and the FBI were prepared to resign over the NSA domestic spying program? Gonzales wasn’t personally aware that this is true, but he’s isn’t aware that he got into any discussions about resignations with the Gang of Eight, only that Comey did not approve of the program. Gonzales said that he was clear with them that Comey did not agree that the President had the legal authority to do this program. But you testified to the SJC that there was no dissent. So you are saying that the Gang of Eight knew about this dissent, but that we couldn’t know about that? If we talked to the members of the Gang of Eight, would they tell us that they were informed about this dissent? Because you previously said you were looking for legislation, and now you are saying that you told them about dissent within the DOJ — but when you testified before us, you said there was none. It seems to me that you are dissembling to this committee. The disagreement at the hospital was about other intelligence activities. Was it about the TSP — that is vital to the understanding of this committee? It was about other intelligence activities.

Did the Gang of Eight have access to the DOJ’s dissenting opinions? That the office of legal counsel disagreed with the program? Gonzales says that he thinks it would be perfectly logical to assume that the Gang of Eight would know that if Comey disagreed, then the Office of Legal Counsel disagreed. [CHS notes: So that would be a “I didn’t tell them, no.”]


Should this committee want to call Patrick Fitzgerald before it for testimony regarding his special counsel investigation, would you have an objection? Gonzales says he’s recused from discussing this. McNulty would be responsible for making that decision.