In the Senate Judiciary Committee:
"Preserving the Rule of Law in the Fight Against Terrorism"
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Dirksen Senate Office Building Room 226
10:00 a.m.
Jack Landman Goldsmith
As drational suggested last month:
Gonzales knew that Goldsmith is scheduled to testify soon before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Goldsmith's book excerpt makes it clear that he is about to swear under oath that Alberto Gonzales lied to Congress.
Who is Jack Goldsmith anyway?
BILL MOYERS: I wanna talk to you about the most amazing scene you ever witnessed. That's your term for what happened. You actually wound up at the hospital that night when Gonzalez, the White House counsel and the White House chief of staff, Andrew Card, came to the hospital to try to persuade Attorney General John Ashcroft to give his permission to some secret-- policy that was about to expire. Why was it the most amazing scene you ever witnessed?
JACK GOLDSMITH: Well, because I was there with Deputy Attorney General and Acting Attorney General Jim Comey. And he had-- made a ruling on the basis of my legal advice, which he agreed with. And they were there to seek reconsideration from Ashcroft, from Attorney General Ashcroft.
It was the most amazing scene I'd ever witnessed because, first of all, I couldn't believe-- he was obviously extremely ill. He'd had a serious operation the day before. He-- when we walked into the room, he had lost a lot of weight since I'd seen him last. He looked ashen. He looked terrible. He had the tubes and wires coming out of his body.
And it was the most amazing scene because in this what seemed like near-death state to me and they came in and made their request, he kind of, in an astonishing way, came to life, sort of lifted himself off the bed a bit, color came into his face. And in an amazingly clear and accurate two-minute speech, he said, "These are the Justice Department's concerns. Share these concerns. I don't appreciate you visiting me here. I'm not the attorney general in any event. Jim Comey is." And then he collapsed back into his bed. And--
BILL MOYERS: Did you think he was gonna die?
JACK GOLDSMITH: I did. That was my thought. I thought that-- that this-- it seems like that's it. He just expired himself. He didn't, thank god. But-- it was an extraordinary scene.
Some more background from Wikipedia:
Jack Goldsmith is a Harvard Law School professor who has written a number of texts on topics in international law and regarding the Internet.[1] He served as an Assistant United States Attorney General from October 2003 to July 2004,[2] under Attorney General John Ashcroft and Deputy Attorney General James Comey.[3] He was the head of the Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel, the division of the United States Department of Justice that advises the president on the limits of executive power. He resigned after 9 months serving, after a failed attempt to moderate "what he considered the constitutional excesses of the legal policies embraced by his White House superiors in the war on terror.[4] As of September 2007, he teaches at Harvard Law School, has been "widely considered one of the brightest stars in the conservative legal firmament,"[4] and has written a book called The Terror Presidency (September 2007).
For some reason the hearing is not on C-SPAN's Capitol Hearings website.
However, it is listed here, on the Senate hearing list for radio and TV tomorrow.
Maybe even C-SPAN needs a reminder not to skip this important hearing?