Bush White House, warrantless wiretapping, and broken law?

White House Kept Justice Lawyers in Dark on Warrantless Wiretapping — The Bush White House so strictly controlled access to its warrantless eavesdropping program that only three Justice Department lawyers [ then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft and two senior aides -- Office of Legal Counsel lawyer John C. Yoo and intelligence policy lawyer James Baker] were aware of the plan, which nearly ignited mass resignations and a constitutional crisis …

Not only laws were broken from Bush White House but Bush CIA:Lawmaker: CIA may have broken law by lying to Congress

And Emptywheel from Firedoglake found this nugget in the IG report:

Today's IG Report on illegal wiretapping answers another previously unanswered question: who called Mrs. Ashcroft to tell her Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales were coming to the ICU ward to rough of John Ashcroft.

George Bush did so himself.

From the report:

According to notes from Ashcroft's FBI security detail, at 6:20 PM that evening Card called the hospital and spoke with an agent in Ashcroft's security detail, advising him that President Bush would be calling shortly to speak with Ashcroft. Ashcroft's wife told the agent that Ashcroft would not accept the call. Ten minutes later, the agent called Ashcroft's Chief of Staff David Ayres at DOJ to request that Ayres speak with Card about the President's intention to call Ashcroft. The agent conveyed to Ayres Mrs. Ashcroft's desire that no calls be made to Ashcroft for another day or two. However, at 6:5 PM, Card and the President called the hospital and, according to the agent's notes, "insisted on speaking [with Attorney General Ashcroft]." According to the agent's notes, Mrs. Ashcroft took the call from Card and the President and was informed that Gonzales and Card were coming to the hospital to see Ashcroft regarding a matter involving national security. (24) [my emphasis]

The unclassified report is here.(pdf).

On a side note: In the Congressional testimony in 2007, Gonzo repeatedly refused to answer persistent questioning from Sen. Chuck Schumer as to whether Bush, or Cheney, had directed him to seek out Ashcroft in the hospital. Now we have the proof and answer.