Think progress has a bit up about an new executive order from Bush.
http://thinkprogress.org/...
By virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, including section 301 of title 3, United States Code, I hereby assign to you the function of the President under section 13(b)(3)(A) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (15 U.S.C. 78m(b)(3)(A)). In performing such function, you should consult the heads of departments and agencies, as appropriate.
And what is this regarding? Who is the department head? Negroponte. And so what is Bush giving this authority in regards to?
More on the flip...
(A)With respect to matters concerning the national security of the United States, no duty or liability under paragraph (2) of this subsection shall be imposed upon any person acting in cooperation with the head of any Federal department or agency responsible for such matters if such act in cooperation with such head of a department or agency was done upon the specific, written directive of the head of such department or agency pursuant to Presidential authority to issue such directives. Each directive issued under this paragraph shall set forth the specific facts and circumstances with respect to which the provisions of this paragraph are to be invoked. Each such directive shall, unless renewed in writing, expire one year after the date of issuance.
Boom. Negroponte was given the power to excuse the Telcoms from lying about this very act, so long as he gives them the order. So the Telcoms can lie about this (notice it took them a few days) and you, as a shareholder, can't do a damn thing about it. They are immune from lawsuits, and exempt from prosecution.
So the fact that Verizon, Et Al are now denying this means nothing, especially considering that this order was issued on May 5th, just days before this scandal broke, which suggests they had some advance knowledge that the story was about to get out.
Combine this with the revelation that news organizations are being tapped, and it's not hard to imagine that the White House knew that this story was on the horizon, and quickly issued this EO to get the Telcoms on board to deny everything so they could avoid culpability.