Kerry: White House spying unconstitutional, Bush excuse `lame'

Kerry: White House spying unconstitutional, Bush excuse `lame'

By Glen Johnson, AP Political Writer | December 20, 2005

BOSTON --Sen. John Kerry said Tuesday that the domestic spying authorized by the White House "doesn't uphold our Constitution," and that President Bush offered a "lame" defense in recent public appearances.



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Though leaking any classified information is against the law, "there is a world of difference between what the president's engaged in and what was leaked out of the White House," Kerry told reporters after addressing ironworkers at a local labor hall.

"The leak in the White House was an effort to destroy somebody and his family and attack them for telling the truth," the senator said, referring to former ambassador Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame. Her identity as a CIA analyst was exposed in July 2003 after Wilson challenged an administration justification for the Iraqi war.

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"I think the president's explanation is lame," Kerry said. "The fact is that there is no wording whatsoever in the law that permits what he engaged in. ... And the president's claim that he has some inherent authority to do this -- against the stated intention of Congress not to -- is simply wrong."
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