Snow: Letter on Gonzales Testimony Coming LaterHere’s a little more information on that mysterious letter from the administration expected by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA).
After a classified briefing on the NSA’s wiretapping program yesterday, Specter said that he expected a letter on the subject by noon today — the letter, supposedly, would help explain the attorney general’s questionable testimony on the program. Specter, however, indicated nothing as to what he expected the letter to say.
In today’s White House press briefing, Tony Snow provided precious little information. He only said that the letter, which will come from the Justice Department, is still forthcoming, probably in the next several hours. He would say nothing about the letter’s contents except that it will answer a number of questions that Specter had about Gonzales’ testimony.
So we continue to wait.
Update: Transcript below.
From the briefing:
Q Tony, has a letter gone to the Hill, specifically to Senator Specter, concerning Alberto Gonzales? MR. SNOW: No, there will be something going up to the Hill and it will be a little bit later. It’s not quite meeting the noon deadline, but he, in fact, will get a response today. And we do — first, we thank Senator Specter. He agreed to get himself read into the program yesterday and received a briefing and he had some questions. And those questions are going to be answered; they’ll be answered in the course of the day, but they have not yet been provided. We expect within the next few hours that he’ll have a full response.Q Tony, following on that, Senator Specter put out a statement saying that the letter would be available to news media and it would address the questions about the Attorney General testifying accurately. You had an interesting time trying to parse the different language the other day when we pressed about it. How will this letter —
MR. SNOW: I will let the documents speak for themselves, and he’ll have an opportunity.
Q Who put it together?
MR. SNOW: Again, at this point — it’s not coming out of the White House….
Q Tony, to clarify this letter, you say it’s not coming from the White House —
MR. SNOW: That is correct.
Q — it’s coming from the Justice Department?
MR. SNOW: They will hear from the — he will hear from the Justice Department.