White House Blocks Release of FBI Files - Privilege Is Cited in CIA Leak Case
By Dan Eggen Thursday, July 17, 2008; A04

The White House yesterday blocked a House committee's attempt to obtain internal FBI reports about the leak of a CIA officer's identity, asserting that notes from interviews of Vice President Cheney and other administration officials are protected by executive privilege.

The move further escalates the conflict between President Bush and the House Government Reform Committee, which had issued a subpoena to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey in an attempt to get the records.

Cheney and other officials were interviewed as part of a probe by Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald into the leak of the identity of former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson. The investigation eventually resulted in the conviction of Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI.

Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), the panel's chairman, said yesterday that Bush's claim of executive privilege in the case is "ludicrous" and vowed to move ahead with a contempt citation against Mukasey.

"The original policy authorized more than 40 Justice Department officials and 400 White House officials to know about ongoing investigations"

Mukasey cuts off White House access to information on probes
By Marisa Taylor | McClatchy Newspapers Posted on Wednesday, December 19, 2007

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Michael Mukasey Wednesday reversed a controversial Bush administration policy that had allowed numerous White House officials to know about ongoing federal investigations.

I don't think the Dems are going to trust the "Loyal Bushies" to investigate themselves, this time.... now all we need are open, public hearings with subpeoned witnesses testifying under oath!

CIA, Justice Review Tapes' Destruction - CIA, Justice Department Open Investigation Into Videotape Destruction
By PAMELA HESS Dec 8, 2007

The Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog announced Saturday a joint inquiry into the spy agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists as the latest scandal to rock U.S. intelligence gathered steam.

The review will determine whether a full investigation is warranted.

"I welcome this inquiry and the CIA will cooperate fully," CIA Director Mike Hayden said in a statement. "I welcome it as an opportunity to address questions that have arisen over the destruction back in 2005 of videotapes."

The House Intelligence Committee is launching its own inquiry next week. It will investigate not only why the tapes were destroyed and Congress was not notified, but also the interrogation methods that "if released, had the potential to do such grave damage to the United States of America," said Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, on Saturday.

"This administration cannot be trusted to police itself," Reyes said.

Cellphone Tracking Powers on Request - Secret Warrants Granted Without Probable Cause By Ellen Nakashima Friday, November 23, 2007; A01

Federal officials are routinely asking courts to order cellphone companies to furnish real-time tracking data so they can pinpoint the whereabouts of drug traffickers, fugitives and other criminal suspects, according to judges and industry lawyers.

In some cases, judges have granted the requests without requiring the government to demonstrate that there is probable cause to believe that a crime is taking place or that the inquiry will yield evidence of a crime. Privacy advocates fear such a practice may expose average Americans to a new level of government scrutiny of their daily lives.

Update: Of course, the tapes have long since been erased....

CIA admits to recording interrogations of top al Qaida captives
By Greg Gordon | McClatchy Newspapers November 13, 2007
WASHINGTON — The CIA has three video and audio recordings of interrogations of senior al Qaida captives but misled federal judges about the evidence during the case against terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui, federal prosecutors revealed in a Nov. 9 court filing that was made public Tuesday.

The disclosure is unlikely to undo Moussaoui's conviction because the agency said the material on the tapes doesn't pertain to his case.

However, the disclosure that the government taped some interrogations of high-value detainees could invite fresh scrutiny of the CIA's treatment of so-called "enemy combatants" who were held at secret prisons or U.S. bases overseas.

John Radsan, a former CIA assistant general counsel who teaches at the William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, Minn., called the revelation of the tapes "huge" news. "So far, there has been great mystery about what was actually done to the high-value detainees," he said. "A videotape is worth a thousand words."...

Justice Dept. Reopens Surveillance Probe By Dan Eggen Wednesday, November 14, 2007

The Justice Department said yesterday that it has reopened an internal investigation of the role played by its lawyers in the administration's warrantless surveillance program, marking a notable policy shift just days into the tenure of new Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey.

The investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility was abandoned in July 2006 after President Bush refused to give security clearances to the OPR lawyers conducting the investigation, according to documents and congressional testimony...

(11/14/2007 ) Domestic spying inquiry restarted at DoJ

The Justice Department has reopened a long-dormant inquiry into the government's warrantless wiretapping program.

Major Policy Shift
It is a major policy shift only days into the tenure of Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

The investigation by the department's Office of Professional Responsibility was shut down last year, after the investigators were denied security clearances.

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told Congress that President Bush, not he, denied the clearances...

Great piece by Larisa Alexandrovna questioning Dershowitz's insanity...

Alan Dershowitz was against Nazis before he was for them? November 10, 2007 by Larisa Alexandrovna
Welcome to the desert of the real in which a Jewish man can cite Nazis in defense of torture tactics. I was raised on the Holocaust. I went to a highly religious school where many of my teachers and guest lecturers were Holocaust survivors.

My family talked about the Holocaust at every opportunity, remembering those who were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered, including members of my family. I lived under the Soviet regime, which also tortured and murdered. I have never met or spoken with any Jew who has ever defended torture, no matter who the "scapegoat" is.

Apparently, there are some Jews who are more than willing to become the very monsters they abhor. This mentality I do not understand and never will.

Take for example the latest Alan Dershowitz column in the Wall Street Journal. Aside from getting the new meme on Mukasey about how the Democrats are beholden to MoveOn.org - echoed by meister Rove, President Bush, Dick Cheney, and the right wing propaganda machine as if one ring ruled them all - Dershowitz actually writes this:...

We don't need "Torturer General Part Deux", shame on these two for their capitulation on torture...

Justice Nominee Gets 2 Key Votes From Democrats
By PHILIP SHENON and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN November 3, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 2 — The confirmation of Michael B. Mukasey as attorney general appeared to be all but certain on Friday after two key Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee announced they would support the nomination despite complaints over Mr. Mukasey’s refusal to clarify his views on what amounts to torture.

The announcements by the senators, Dianne Feinstein of California and Charles E. Schumer of New York, came after Mr. Schumer met with the nominee on Friday afternoon and said he had obtained Mr. Mukasey’s promise to enforce laws that banned any of the harsh interrogation methods known to have been used on Qaeda terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks...

The Torture Litmus Test BY Scott Horton November 2, 2007
Several days before his first meeting with the Senate Judiciary Committee, Michael Mukasey’s Justice Department handlers arranged a private meeting for him with a number of “movement conservatives.” Two different administration sources have described the meeting to me. During the meeting, Mukasey’s counterparts, largely figures associated with the Federalist Society, pushed him on two points in particular.