Mukasey reopens probe into warrantless wiretap program!!!!

[napi21]

Just days into his job as attorney general, Michael Mukasey has reopened an internal investigation into the role Justice Department lawyers played in President Bush's warrantless surveillance program.

"We recently received the necessary security clearances and are now able to proceed with our investigation," H. Marshall Jarrett, counsel for the OPR, wrote to Rep. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y., one of those who pushed for the inquiry. The Associated Press said it obtained a copy of the letter, dated today.

The investigation "will focus on whether the DOJ attorneys who were involved complied with their ethical obligations of providing competent legal advice to their client and of adhering to their duty of candor to the court," spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in a statement.

The investigation began in February 2006 but halted when the National Security Agency refused to grant DOJ lawyers security clearances to ask questions. Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urged Bush to approve the clearances but he refused, Justice Department officials have said.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/11/mukasey-reopens.html

UH OH!

[Beetwasher]

1. Well, This Could Be Good News, Or It Could Be Another Whitewash

I'm not laying any bets, but I'm hoping for the best and hoping there's more to this guy than meets the eye.

[L. Coyote]

2. Don't get too excited just yet. Bush had to approve this, and I smell a whitewash

just in time for the retroactive immunity debate, or at least a move to soften retroactive immunity opponents until after the new FISA vote.

Once the telecoms have the immunity, expect nothing further!

[razors edge]

3. They must need to shift

an investigation away from something they have not already received congressional cover for.

[mzmolly]

4. Hmmm, I wonder if Shumer and the gang knew something we didn't?

Nahhhhhhh, but this should be interesting regardless! :freak:

[disndat]

5. Anything is possible

But it's hard to imagine Mukasey doing a serious investigation that would put the WH in jeopardy.

[mzmolly]

6. Chuck "Schumer," not Shumer.

Sorry.

[L. Coyote]

7. Who is on the Intelligence Committees? Who was briefed about what when?

And, what are their motivations to cover up what they knew when?