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Insight Mag.: Bush Impeachment Probe Possible
According to Insight Magazine, the Bush administration is preparing for impeachment hearings. Citing unnamed sources in the administration, Insight reports that hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee in February could serve as a preview for later impeachment proceedings. The Judiciary hearings will investigate the legality of a controversial secret wiretapping program used by the administration. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez is expected to testify. The wiretapping program was authorized by secret order from President Bush in 2002. The order directed the National Security Agency to intercept communications to and from the United States that included at least one known or suspected terrorist. Specific details of the program are still unknown.
Story Continues Below The White House consulted with eight members of Congress on the program, including four Democrats. Sources told Insight that the Judiciary probe will likely include Republicans unaware that they could be advancing a Democratic move toward eventual impeachment. "Our arithmetic,” said the source, "shows that a majority of the committee could vote against the president. If we work hard, there could be a tie.” President Bush struck back at critics of the program in a speech at Kansas State University Monday afternoon. "If I wanted to break the law,” Bush asked, "why was I briefing Congress?”
The speech was the opening play of a three-day campaign to defend the program. Bush sought to recast public debate on the subject by characterizing the program as a "terrorist surveillance program” as opposed to the "domestic spying” tag it has been given by Democrats. He also defended the program’s constitutionality. "Federal courts,” he said, "have consistently ruled that a president has authority under the Constitution to conduct foreign intelligence surveillance against our enemies. Predecessors of mine have used that same constitutional authority.” Congress does not have the constitutional authority to limit presidential power derived from the Constitution itself. Only a constitutional amendment may limit the powers appropriated by the Constitution. Still, critics claim the program violates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA. The Act claims itself as "the exclusive means by which electronic surveillance ... and the interception of wire and oral communications may be conducted.” Democrats issued nearly immediate responses to the president’s speech. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid chastised the president for his "continued refusal to come clean with the American people about domestic spying.” Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean declared, "The question remains: Why did President Bush deliberately choose to break the law?”
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics: Inside Cover Stories
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