Gonzales Suggests Legal Basis for Domestic Eavesdropping

Apparently not content to get away with warrantless wiretapping of U.S. citizen’s international calls, the administration’s pointman for legally justifying the president’s alleged extra-constitutional authority, Albert Gonzalez, is now suggesting to Congress there is a legal basis for the president to order warrantless wiretapping on communications between U.S. citizens that occur within the United States.

This raises the question, is he softening up Congress for the news that such a program is already underway, or is he putting out feelers to assess what, if any opposition the administration can expect from such a move?

Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales suggested on Thursday for the first time that the president might have the legal authority to order wiretapping without a warrant on communications between Americans that occur exclusively within the United States.

“I’m not going to rule it out,” Mr. Gonzales said when asked about that possibility at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

The attorney general made his comments, which critics said reflected a broadened view of the president’s authority, as President Bush offered another strong defense of his decision to authorize the National Security Agency to eavesdrop without warrants on international calls and e-mail messages to or from the United States.

Mr. Bush, in an appearance in North Carolina, told a questioner who attacked the program that he would “absolutely not” apologize for authorizing it.

“You can come to whatever conclusion you want” about the merits of the program,” Mr. Bush said. “The conclusion is I’m not going to apologize for what I did on the terrorist surveillance program.”

At the House hearing, Mr. Gonzales faced tough questioning from Democrats and Republicans but declined to discuss many operational details.

Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin Republican who is chairman of the Judiciary Committee and one of the administration’s staunchest…

Posted by rocketjam

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