Bush opens wiretap documents to House

[babylonsister]

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2008/01/bush_opens_wiretap_documents_t.php

Bush opens wiretap documents to House

As Senate Takes Up Eavesdropping Bill, Bush Opens Wiretapping Documents to House Members

PAMELA HESS
AP News

Jan 24, 2008 12:52 EST

Ending months of resistance, the White House has agreed to give House members access to secret documents about its warrantless wiretapping program, a congressional official said Thursday.

The Bush administration is trying to convince the House to protect from civil lawsuits the telecommunications companies that helped the government eavesdrop on Americans without the approval of a court. Congress created the court 30 years ago to oversee such activities.

House Intelligence and Judiciary committee members and staff will begin reading the documents at the White House Thursday, said an aide to Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas.

Reyes and ranking Republican Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan requested the documents in May, saying they would not support telecom immunity without them. The Senate committees were given the documents last fall.

The documents include the president's authorization of warrantless wiretapping, White House legal opinions going back to 2001, and the requests sent to the telecommunications companies asking for their assistance, said the official, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the classified program.


THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Bush tried on Thursday to pressure congressional Democrats to extend and expand the government's eavesdropping powers, which expire in eight days.

Bush, in a written statement, said the law has allowed the intelligence community to monitor the communications of terrorists.

"Congress' action or lack of action on this important issue will directly affect our ability to keep Americans safe," Bush said. Vice President Dick Cheney spoke about the same issue in a speech on Wednesday.

The law authorizes the administration to eavesdrop on phone calls and see the e-mail to and from suspected terrorists. Congress is bickering over terms of its extension.

On Tuesday, Senate Republicans blocked an effort by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to extend the stopgap Protect America Act without expanding it, raising stakes for an expected showdown in the Senate later this week on a new version of the law.

Congress hastily adopted the stopgap act last summer in the face of administration warnings about dangerous gaps in the government's ability to gather intelligence in the Internet age.

Administration allies in Congress not only want the expiring law made permanent but amended to give telephone companies and other communications providers immunity from being sued for helping the government eavesdropping and other intelligence-gathering efforts.

Source: AP News
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[KansDem]

1. Yeah, uh-huh, sure...and why do we believe that Mr. "935 Lies"

...will show all the documents? Or will he show just the ones that tend to prove his case for telecom immunity, and not the other 99.99% that reveal illegal wiretapping of Americans for political gain and profit...?