Ex-President Bush Lied To FBI Director About Warrantless Surveillance: Book
Huffington Post:
Marcus Baram
First Posted: 01/27/2012 3:46 pm Updated: 01/27/2012 4:29 pm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/bush-lied-to-fbi-director_n_1237262.html
Former President George W. Bush lied to FBI Director Robert Mueller in the Oval Office to protect White House programs that secretly eavesdropped on Americans, according to an upcoming book by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Weiner.
In "Enemies," the former New York Times reporter reveals the extent of the bureau's long war against terrorists, spies and anyone considered subversive, including American presidents. Among its explosive claims, Weiner reports that the FBI was penetrated by agents working for China, Russia, Cuba and al-Qaeda and that the bureau gathered evidence that was sufficient to impeach Presidents Bill Clinton, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan.
In the wake of 9/11, when the Bush administration expanded its anti-terror programs to include warrantless eavesdropping of Americans' phones and emails, FBI director Mueller was one who opposed the program because he felt that the White House was "trying to do an end run" around the law. After drafting a letter of resignation, Mueller met with Bush one-on-one on March 12, 2004, telling him that "he would resign if the FBI was ordered to continue warrantless searches on Americans without an order from the Department of Justice." The meeting came the day after the infamous bedside visit to Attorney General John Ashcroft, when White House chief of staff Andy Card and legal director Alberto Gonzalez unsuccessfully tried to get the ailing Ashcroft to sign off on the program.
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