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May 15, 2007

Who Was "DeepThroat" on HospitalGate?

arty Lederman and Orin Kerr have posts up about the testimony of former Deputy AG Jim Comey about the the night current AG Al Gonzales and former Chief of Staff Andrew Card tried to get a deeply ill and hospitalized John Ashcroft to sign-off on what Comey makes clear was a version of the Domestic Wiretapping Program that the powers-that-be in Main Justice considered if not illegal, certainly not constitutionally Kosher -- even if the president was giving it his thumbs up.

As the stories up on the NYTimes and WaPo websites note, the fact that Gonzales and Card had tried to get Ashcroft to override Comey from his hospital bed had been previously reported last year.

But those stories did not identify the source or sources (at least as I recall and I can't find them on the web at the moment).

Now, from Comey, we know this much. He was there. Ashcroft was there. Card and Gonzales were there. FBI chief Mueller was on his way and there for part of the time. Associate AG Patrick Philbin was there. Assistant AG for the Office of Legal Counsel Jack Goldsmith was there. Former Solicitor General Ted Olson was brought into the fray by Comey after Card demanded a show down.

There may be others.

So who gave this story to the NYTimes and WaPo last year?

Who was their source(s)? And why?

Posted by shertaugh at May 15, 2007 4:29 PM

Comments

Posted by: Ugh at May 15, 2007 5:20 PM