During his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last month, FBI Director Robert Mueller revealed that he had kept notes of the infamous encounter between James Comey and Alberto Gonzales over John Ashcroft’s hospital bed. Mueller had taken the notes, he said, because the situation was “out of the ordinary.”
Well, here they are. They were turned over to the Committee earlier this week and released by Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) today. We’ll have analysis of what they tell us in a moment.
Update: Here’s Conyers’ statement:
“Director Mueller’s notes and recollections concerning the White House visit to the Attorney General’s hospital bed confirm an attempt to goad a sick and heavily medicated Ashcroft to approve the warrantless surveillance program. Particularly disconcerting is the new revelation that the White House sought Mr. Ashcroft’s authorization for the surveillance program, yet refused to let him seek the advice he needed on the program.“Unfortunately, this heavily redacted document raises far more questions than it answers. We intend to fully investigate this incident and the underlying subject matter that evoked such widespread distress within the Department and the FBI. We will be seeking an unredacted copy of Director Mueller’s notes covering meetings before and after the hospital visit and expect to receive information from several of the individuals mentioned in the document.”