Man, you turn Marcy Wheeler loose on an IG report, and her eye just seeks heat. Today, Wheeler's getting praise for catching this detail in the unclassified IG report on the Bush-era wiretapping program:
Today's IG Report on illegal wiretapping adresses another previously unanswered question: Who called Mrs. Ashcroft to tell her Andy Card and Alberto Gonzales were coming to the ICU ward to rough of John Ashcroft.
George Bush did so himself.
Here's the salient portion of the report:
According to notes from Ashcroft's FBI security detail, at 6:20 PM that evening Card called the hospital and spoke with an agent in Ashcroft's security detail, advising him that President Bush would be calling shortly to speak with Ashcroft. Ashcroft's wife told the agent that Ashcroft would not accept the call. Ten minutes later, the agent called Ashcroft's Chief of Staff David Ayres at DOJ to request that Ayres speak with Card about the President's intention to call Ashcroft. The agent conveyed to Ayres Mrs. Ashcroft's desire that no calls be made to Ashcroft for another day or two. However, at 6:5 PM, Card and the President called the hospital and, according to the agent's notes, "insisted on speaking [with Attorney General Ashcroft]." According to the agent's notes, Mrs. Ashcroft took the call from Card and the President and was informed that Gonzales and Card were coming to the hospital to see Ashcroft regarding a matter involving national security.
Wheeler's been having a hell of a good year, so go bookmark her, why not?
MORE:
George Bush PERSONALLY Sent Card and Gonzalez to Thug Up Ashcroft [Empty Wheel]
Strangelove: Anthony Weiner and Huma Abedin are engaged to be wed! Congratulations! But some worry about what will happen to our nation's PRECIOUS BODILY FLUIDS!!
The Secret Lives Of Frogs In Boiling Water: Via Yglesias comes the news that a great peace accord has been reached on the frog metaphor front.
Surely You Jest!: Shockingly, it appears that former Clinton flack Howard Wolfson might not be some sort of monument to consistency!
Welcome Our Rock Overlords: Since China holds so much U.S. debt, many people worry that they might obtain the upper hand geopolitically. In related news, I saw the band Imperial China play Fort Reno last week, and would definitely like to see them obtain the upper hand, where sculpted, danceable math rock is concerned. Here's a video of Imperial China playing "There is no Translation" live in the studio of the University of Maryland's WMUC.
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