"An Apocalyptic Situation": Jim Comey's (Signed But Unsent) Resgination Letter

[kpete]

September 14, 2008

This letter to the President of the United States was written after the President had signed a surveillance order, having been told by the Justice Department that the authorized conduct was criminal:

Former acting attorney general James Comey's resignation letter to Bush over NSA domestic spying showdown with Cheney. "Over the last two weeks, I have encountered just such an apocalyptic situation, where I and the Department have been asked to be part of something that is fundamentally wrong."

LETTER HERE:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/cheney/doc-comey-resig.html

********************

Bart Gellman explains:

For Cheney, it didn't matter much whether one official or 10 or 20 took a walk. Maybe they were bluffing, maybe not. The principle was the same: Do what has to be done. "The president of the United States is the chief law enforcement officer -- that was the Cheney view," said Bartlett, Bush's counselor, who was later briefed into the program and the events of the day. "You can't let resignations deter you if you're doing what's right." Cheney and Addington "were ready to go to the mat," he said, and the vice president's position boiled down to this: " 'That's why we're leaders, that's why we're here. Take the political hit. You've got to do it.'"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR2008091401974.html

..................

Posted by Laura at September 14, 2008 10:28 PM
more at:
http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/008045.html

More: "All hell was breaking loose at Justice."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/cheney/doc-comey-resig.html?hpid=topnews

Unexpectedly, Ashcroft roused himself. Previous accounts have said he backed his deputy. He did far more than that. Ashcroft told the president's men he never should have certified the program in the first place.

.......................

It has been widely reported that Bush executed the March 11 order with a blank space over the attorney general's signature line. That is not correct. For reasons both symbolic and practical, the vice president's lawyer could not tolerate an empty spot where a mutinous subordinate should have signed. Addington typed a substitute signature line: "Alberto R. Gonzales."

What Addington wrote for Bush that day was more transcendent than that. He drew up new language in which the president relied on his own authority to certify the program as lawful. Bush expressly overrode the Justice Department and any act of Congress or judicial decision that purported to constrain his power as commander in chief. Only Richard M. Nixon, in an interview after leaving the White House in disgrace, claimed authority so nearly unlimited.

.........................

"I'm sure when we leave office we're all going to be hauled up before congressional committees and grand juries," Addington told one colleague in disgust. ...;

[CoffeeCat]

1. And McCain has agreed with the President...

...on this issue, correct?

Didn't McCain refuse to say that waterboarding was torture?

He regularly says that torture is wrong, but how can you vote 'yes' for waterboarding, but
be against torture?

[kpete]

2. shit is hitting the fan

fast and furious tonight....kp

[ClayZ]

3. .

:scared:

[MadrasT]

4. The house of cards is falling, and

people are noticing that the emperor is naked.

Thanks for the links... I will be reading them all. :hi:

:kick and R

[cui bono]

5. And yet they leave him sitting in the Oval Office. n/t

[bleever]

6. K&R. Very important stuff.

Looking into the very heart of the beast.

[bertman]

7. Comey deserves a Medal of Freedom, but Bush will probably give one to Addington.

I wonder why he did not sign and send the letter. Anyone know the answer?

[barbtries]

8. bush met with him

some language may have been changed to convince him the program was legal. comey has testified about this.

i wonder how the letter came to be released at this time. it seems to me that perhaps certain persons close to the white house are perhaps trying to make sure that mccain does not get elected or loses too badly for the republicans to steal it for him.

[NoFederales]

9. Every bit helps. And didn't Comey help position Fitzpatrick such that

Fitzpatrick's work would be harder to compromise?

Despite the efforts of the * admin to hold their secrets, perhaps enough truth will emerge to thoroughly strip the veneers and gilding away from their lies and oath-breaking activities, away from the veils behind which these misanthropes hide. Add a little Bugliosi style fervor and may be some convictions will do artistic and legal justice in painting these people as they truly are, reprehensible and unworthy of even the coldest of legacies.

NoFederales

[DallasNE]

10. Cause For Pause

"You can't let resignations deter you if you're doing what's right."

For most people the threat of mass resignations would cause most people to pause and reflect and ask themselves whether their proposal was the right thing to do. But with this crowd there was nothing but certainty; that there were absolutely no limits to what was allowed. Neither 230 years of history nor the fact that several dedicated professionals were willing to put their careers on the line were reasons for pause.

Power became arrogance. Arrogance became lawlessness.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. Is there any question that George Bush was never a loyal American?

[The Stranger]

12. Is the Nancy Pelosi Traitor still looking for evidence of impeachable offenses?

[bobthedrummer]

13. "A DU collaborative investigation: Thelma Colbert, Shannon Ross and other deaths at DoJ"

(archived thread started May 8, 2007)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x847120