David Addington is going to say as little as possible to the House Judiciary Committee today. The Vice President’s chief of staff didn’t submit testimony today or make an opening statement, and he successfully stonewalled the first round of questioning from subcommittee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY). He did submit 10 exhibits to the committee as evidence, but it’s not yet clear what they consist of.
But then it was Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) turn to ask questions. And he went toe to toe with Yoo, the former DOJ attorney and torture-memo author extraordinaire:
Conyers: Could the President order a suspect buried alive?Yoo: Uh, Mr. Chairman, I don’t think I’ve ever given advice that the President could order someone buried alive…
Conyers: I didn’t ask you if you ever gave him advice. I asked you thought the President could order a suspect buried alive.
Yoo: Well Chairman, my view right now is that I don’t think a President … no American President would ever have to order that or feel it necessary to order that.
Conyers: I think we understand the games that are being played.
Here’s the video from the hearing: