Why hasn't Senate Judiciary Committee subpoenaed Asscroft?

[npincus]

Wouldn't Asscroft's testimony resolve the he-said (Comey), he-said (Gonzo) details of Gonzo's midnight visit to his hospital bedside and confirm Gonzo perjured himself on denials over disagreement in the DOJ on reauthorizing the no-warrant surveillance program, and the intent of his/ Card's creepy hospital visit?

I wonder why Asscroft hasn't been invited to clear this up?




http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/15/ashcroft.nsa/index.html

Gonzales said that he and Card had been urged by congressional leaders of both parties to take steps necessary to ensure that the unidentified intelligence program survive a looming deadline for its expiration. To do that, Gonzales said, he needed Ashcroft's permission.

At the time, Ashcroft was in an intensive care unit recovering from gall bladder surgery and Gonzales was Bush's White House legal counsel. Ashcroft had transferred the powers of his office to Deputy Attorney General James Comey.

"We went there because we thought it was important for him to know where the congressional leadership was on this," Gonzales told the Senate Judiciary Committee in his first public explanation of the meeting.

"Clearly if he had been competent and understood the facts and had been inclined to do so, yes we would have asked him," Gonzales added. "Andy Card and I didn't press him. We said 'Thank you' and we left."

Gonzales' version conflicts with Comey's.


http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/07/26/gonzales.testimony/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Gonzales testified February 6, 2006, that "there has not been any serious disagreement about the ." However, he testified Tuesday that the purpose of a March 10, 2004, meeting between White House officials and congressional leaders -- referred to as the "Gang of Eight" -- was to inform lawmakers that Comey would not approve "a very important intelligence activity." That was when Comey was filling in for the hospitalized Ashcroft. Another official testified that the 2004 meeting was about the TSA. The senators called the contradiction in Gonzales' statements "deeply troubling."


When the issue came up again, John Negroponte, then director of national intelligence, described the "Gang of Eight" meeting as being about the surveillance program.



John Asscroft, come on down!

[ellenfl]

1. i thought they already had spoken w/ashcroft behind closed doors? eom

[Hawkowl]

2. Right

You only need to subpoena people who aren't cooperating.

[npincus]

4. was it sworn testimony?

thanks for clearing that up.

[ThomWV]

3. and his wife. Hard to say how executive privilege could apply to her.