TPMmuckraker | Talking Points Memo

Just Another Mix-Up

By Paul Kiel - May 22, 2007, 2:36PM

As Newsweek reports, when Justice Department officials got upset over Alberto Gonzales and Andrew Card's nighttime visit to John Ashcroft's hospital bed in March of 2004, the White House fell back on their old standby: incompetence.

From Newsweek:

After the incident, there were recriminations over what Comey portrayed as an attempt by Bush's top lawyer and chief of staff to "take advantage" of a very ill man. Comey didn't tell the Senate panel that the bad feelings were stoked even more the next morning when White House officials explained the hospital visit by saying Gonzales and Card were unaware that Comey was acting A.G. (and therefore the only person authorized to sign off on the surveillance program), according to a former senior DOJ official who requested anonymity talking about internal matters. Top DOJ officials were furious, the source said. Just days earlier, Justice's chief spokesman had publicly said Comey would serve as "head of the Justice Department" while Ashcroft was ill. Justice officials had also faxed over a document to the White House informing officials of this. When a Gonzales aide claimed the counsel's office could find no record of it, DOJ officials dug out a receipt showing the fax had been received. "People were disgusted as much as livid," said the DOJ official. "It was just the dishonesty of it." A Gonzales aide at the time (who asked not to be ID'd talking about internal matters) said there was a "miscommunication" and "genuine confusion" over who was in charge.

"Genuine confusion" or disingenuous confusion. You decide.

Via Steve Benen.

Comments (231)

bordersmuggler wrote on May 22, 2007 2:50 PM:

Digby summarizes:

This was a typical Bush/Cheney/Rove style power play. They tried a completely unethical end-run that didn’t work and then they attempted to make the Justice Department swallow a lie that was so lame that it could only have been a loyalty test. How infuriating.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/believe-me-by-digby-dont-you-just-hate.html

sailmaker wrote on May 22, 2007 2:59 PM:

Check Digby debunking 'they didn't know Comey was Acting Atty General.' Turns out there was receipt for the fax announcing the fact.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2007/05/believe-me-by-digby-dont-you-just-hate.html

Anonymous wrote on May 22, 2007 3:07 PM:

"We're not dishonest. We're just incompetent."

That's sooooo much better.

Anonymous wrote on May 22, 2007 3:11 PM:

Well, the gauntlet has been thrown down.

Simply, we need evidence that Gonzales, Card and/or the White House knew that Comey was acting AG.

That should be pretty easy to find and would register somewhere in e-mails, process flows, or a mass communication from DOJ.

I know we can find this one.

Rebel wrote on May 22, 2007 3:13 PM:

Sounds like genuine bs coming from Gonzo's Aide not confusion.

shoe wrote on May 22, 2007 3:13 PM:

This is just simply amazing:

"Goodling fails to turn over documents subpoenaed by House committee" Michael Roston
Published: Tuesday May 22, 2007
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Goodling_fails_to_turn_over_documents_0522.html

bordersmuggler wrote on May 22, 2007 3:14 PM:

Wmat makes this interesting is that an MSM outlet is running with this very unflattering story about the Bush inner circle, shown acting like a gang of street urchins.

JEP wrote on May 22, 2007 3:25 PM:

one of themost revealing yet wubtle statements Comey made during his recent testimony was the description of Card and Gonzo's reaction when Ashcroft pointed at Comey and said "He's the AG for now." Then Comey says, (loosely paraphrased) "Card and Gonzales refused to acknowledge me.."

That is clear proof that they knew exactly who was the official AG at that moment; had they actually been unaware of the fact, and learned it from Ashcroft at that moment, surely there would have been some sort of verbal exchange in the follow-up.

But the fact that they refused to even acknowledge Comey's presence proves they knew everything that they now deny.

Simple logic...

JEP wrote on May 22, 2007 3:35 PM:

one of the most revealing yet subtle statements Comey made during his recent testimony was the description of Card and Gonzo's reaction when Ashcroft pointed at Comey and said "He's the AG for now." Then Comey says, (loosely paraphrased) "Card and Gonzales refused to acknowledge me.."

But the fact that they refused to even acknowledge Comey's presence proves they knew everything that they now deny.

Simple logic...

Tern et Looz wrote on May 22, 2007 3:36 PM:

As "emptywheel" suggests at

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/5/22/111456/606

they were probably going to back date Ashcroft's signature to before Comey's taking control.

JEP wrote on May 22, 2007 3:40 PM:

Considering all this wishful retro-Reaganeering the R's seem to be resurrecting, maybe it's time for a remake of "Bedtime for Gonzo..."

Or did I spell that wrong?

modmom wrote on May 22, 2007 3:42 PM:

Don't forget how Card responded:

SCHUMER: What happened after Mr. Gonzales and Card left? Did you have any contact with them in the next little while?

COMEY: While I was talking to Director Mueller, an agent came up to us and said that I had an urgent call in the command center, which was right next door. They had Attorney General Ashcroft in a hallway by himself and there was an empty room next door that was the command center.

And he said it was Mr. Card wanting to speak to me.

COMEY: I took the call. And Mr. Card was very upset and demanded that I come to the White House immediately.

I responded that, after the conduct I had just witnessed, I would not meet with him without a witness present.

He replied, "What conduct? We were just there to wish him well."

And I said again, "After what I just witnessed, I will not meet with you without a witness. And I intend that witness to be the solicitor general of the United States."

THEY WERE JUST THERE TO WISH ASHCROFT WELL. YEAH...RIGHT!

kaye wrote on May 22, 2007 4:07 PM:

The president's chief counsel (Gonzales) and his chief of staff (Card) didn't know who was in charge of the DOJ. Obviously someone else very important at the White House didn't know either--whoever made the phone call to Mrs. Ashcroft.

Criminals or incompetents? Incompetent criminals!!! Please make them go away.

bordersmuggler wrote on May 22, 2007 4:19 PM:

This story has all the ingredients for payola for prime time MSM exposure. It has the potential notoriety to eclipse Watergate. In that ___gate, the characters were low-level con men; in ICUgate, they represent the President's immediate inner circle: his chief counsel and his chief of staff.

Milk this for all it's worth.

Matt wrote on May 22, 2007 5:12 PM:

Is anyone pursuing the lead that Gonzales violated the law by discussing a highly classified program in front of Ashcroft's wife, in a non-classified location?

Richard L. Adlof wrote on May 22, 2007 5:46 PM:

Does anyone know if there was taped video observation in the ICU? I'd pay ten bucks to watch that on the big screen in a movie theater.

Jane wrote on May 22, 2007 6:10 PM:

I doubt there was video but there should be a continuous record of Ashcroft's heart rate during this friendly (snark) visit.

Gonzales to Card: Gee, Andy, I don't recall how we ended up talking shop.

So who at the White House called Mrs. Ashcroft and informed her (apparently over her objections since she took steps to protect her husband) that they were coming over?

molly wrote on May 22, 2007 7:05 PM:

So different than Andy Card's Q&A with Brian Lamb....saying his wife was a methodist minister and what an honor. An honor I say to serve. Brian smiles sweetly.

psyberdawg wrote on May 22, 2007 9:18 PM:

JEP @ 03:35 PM -- exactly.

Gonzales and Card turned on their heels and left after Ashcroft told them "I'm not the Attorney General; that's the Attorney General (pointing at Comey)"

No one asked WTF he was talking about. No one was surprised -- because they already knew.

Anonymous wrote on May 22, 2007 10:54 PM:

modmom: "THEY WERE JUST THERE TO WISH ASHCROFT WELL. YEAH...RIGHT!"

This story was just plain insulting. These guys have absolutely no shame. Just there to wish him well. At MIDNIGHT! C'mon. Do they really expect us to believe that? People are allowed to visit anyone in hospitals at midnight let alone in the ICU. These guys must think we're as stupid as they are.

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