Stories related to: John Ashcroft

The Supreme Court today agreed to hear an appeal from John Ashcroft, with the former attorney general insisting top government officials cannot be sued by immigrants who allege they were beaten and abused after 9/11. Lower courts have refused to dismiss a suit from a man who was held for 6 months before being deported to Pakistan—without being charged, the Los Angeles Times reports. More »

Whether a key Dick Cheney aide can be forced to testify is at the heart of a pending blow-up between Congress and the White House over a probe into interrogation techniques, Reuters reports. The House Judiciary Committee plans to subpoena Cheney's chief of staff, David Addington—but the vice president insists Addington, a key interrogation-policy player, can't be forced to testify. More »

Senior White House officials explicitly approved interrogation technique details in several meetings beginning in 2002, sources tell ABC. It was previously known that the CIA drafted a “Golden Shield” memo approving highly specific tactics for use on al-Qaeda detainees, but that top officials—including Condoleezza Rice, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell and Donald Rumsfeld—personally condoned the policy, on multiple occasions, is a new revelation. More »

Instead of indicting major corporations for fraud and other forms of malfeasance, the Bush administration is relying more and more on deferred prosecutions, allowing companies to pay a fine and accept monitoring instead of going to trial. The name of the monitor and the details of the agreement are often kept secret, the New York Times reports. More »

One of the oldest and most hotly debated constitutional amendments—the right to bear arms—comes under scrutiny by the Supreme Court today. The court will hear arguments on the constitutionality of Washington DC's stringent ban on handguns. The ruling, which will arrive in June, is sure to have a major impact on the national debate over firearms, USA Today notes. More »

John Ashcroft angrily denied congressional Democrats' allegations today that a lucrative no-bid contract the Justice Department awarded him represents a conflict of interest, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Democrats characterized the contract as a “backroom sweetheart deal” because Ashcroft's ex-subordinates selected his firm to monitor a medical supply company under investigation for providing kickbacks. The deal could be worth up to $52 million. More »

A judge yesterday held a former USA Today reporter in contempt of court for refusing to disclose her sources in stories about the 2001 anthrax attacks, the AP reports. He also ordered her to pay daily fines reaching $5,000 out of her own pocket until she cooperates . The reporter wrote about an ex-Army scientist under scrutiny in the attacks. More »

A former army doctor identified as a "person of interest" in the 2001 anthrax attacks is suing three US officials for leaking information about him, the Los Angeles Times reports. In his five-year-old suit, physician Steven Hatfill claims the case caused him "severe emotional distress" and hindered his ability to find work. "Some of the most damaging information leaked in this case [came] straight out of the U.S. attorney's office, " said Hatfill's attorney. More »

Newly released notes taken by the FBI director in 2004 contradict Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony about the internal conflict over the warrantless wiretapping program. Robert Mueller's heavily redacted notes refer to hospitalized AG John Ashcroft as "feeble" and "barely articulate," the Washington Post reports—a far cry from Gonzales' claim that his predecessor was "lucid." More »

Alberto Gonzales’ Senate testimony last week was a disgraceful exercise in dodging, but the perjury charge Democratic senators have been hawking ever since doesn’t hold water, says  the Washington Post ’s lefty Ruth Marcus. In an “unexpected position,” the writer defends Gonzales, saying he may have minced words in testimony about his Ashcroft sickbed visit—but probably didn’t lie. More »

Pressure mounted on Alberto Gonzales yesterday as FBI director Robert Mueller directly contradicted the attorney general in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. Mueller and Gonzales gave dramatically different accounts about  whether the Justice department's secret eavesdropping program was the subject of the now-legendary nighttime confrontation at the hospital bedside of then-Attorney General John Ashcroft. More »

Alberto Gonzales' Senate testimony this week is at odds with a year-old intelligence document, and the discrepancy may earn the AG in a congressional perjury investigation. At issue is a 2004 White House briefing, which Gonzales has repeatedly testified did not concern the warrantless wiretapping program; a memo from the national intelligence director obtained by the AP says it did. More »

Alberto Gonzales today refuted an ex-colleague's dramatic testimony about a 2004 visit to John Ashcroft's hospital bed, but the Senate Judiciary Committee wasn't buying it. Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter were openly skeptical of the AG's account of the scene in John Ashcroft's room, and Specter raised the possibility of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the US attorney firings. More »

Business as usual for US multinationals in Colombia involves paying off paramilitaries and guerrillas, a practice that offers "insurance" against violence—and violates US law. The LA Times looks at the tension between protecting economic investments and essentially if not directly foiling counterterrorism efforts, a conflict that has the attention of US lawmakers who see Colombia as a model. More »

A showdown on the White House's warantless wiretapping program looms after the Senate Judiciary Committee authorized subpoenas for documents on the progam, and the administration said it had no plans to comply, claiming the material is classified and off limits. The president may invoke executive privilege to prevent the documents' release, Reuters reports. More »

The Senate investigation of Alberto Gonzales took a turn toward high drama today as a former deputy AG described his hospital-room standoff with White House officials attempting to secure the signature of his critically ill boss. James Comey, then No. 2 at Justice—and, with John Ashcroft incapacitated, the acting AG—was with Ashcroft when Gonzales and Andrew Card appeared. More »

Regent University, the evangelical college founded by Pat Robertson that  graduated disgraced Gonzales aide Monica Goodling, has quietly become a huge source of like-minded talent for the Bush administration: Despite its marginal academic credentials, 150 Regent University alumni have been placed in federal positions since 2001. More »