EXCLUSIVE: Former Sen. Intel Chair Reports White House Misled About Wiretap Briefings

One of the long-standing deceptions involved with the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program is the White House claim that they fully briefed Congress prior to conducting these activities.

After the domestic surveillance program was revealed in 2005, former Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham (D-FL) said that White House briefings that he attended in the Vice President’s office failed to disclose that the administration was spying on Americans:

There was no reference made to the fact that we were going to…begin unwarranted, illegal — and I think unconstitutional — eavesdropping on American citizens.

Shortly thereafter, Cheney fired back at Graham, arguing, “Well that’s not true. (Graham) knew.” The White House accused him of “misremembering the briefings.”

In a recent interview with ThinkProgress, Sen. Graham told us that, after the controversy erupted in late 2005, the White House provided him with dates when they alleged Graham had been briefed. Graham said he consulted his famous spiral bound notebooks and determined he had not been briefed on these dates:

When I got those dates, I went back to my notebooks and checked and found that on most of the dates there were no meetings held. In fact, in several of them, I wasn’t in Washington when the meetings were supposed to have taken place. So I stand by what I said.

Listen to it:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/09/08/bob-graham-wiretapping/

Graham said the White House ultimately acknowledged “we had the wrong dates.” But the deception didn’t end there.

After our interview with Graham, the AP reported a four-page memo authored by then-Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte which claimed to assert dates on which members of Congress were briefed about the “Terrorist Surveillance Program.” The document alleged that Graham was briefed on four dates: October 25, 2001; November 14, 2001; April 10, 2002; and July 8, 2002.

ThinkProgress went back to Graham and asked if he could verify that he was briefed on those dates. Graham said that on two of the dates (10/25/01 and 4/10/02), there were no meetings. On two others (11/14/01 and 7/8/02), he did attend White House meetings, but he stands by his earlier statements that he was never informed about domestic surveillance.

Graham wryly noted, “The White House needs to hire itself an archivist.” His revelations should raise greater concerns about the information the White House has released claiming that members of Congress were fully briefed on the wiretapping program.

It's the Constitutionally-correct thing to do!:patriot:

IMPEACH!

I'll trust his memory over the word of Crashcart Cheney any day!

Bob has a whole library of notes. He writes every thing down in the most excruciating detail.

So long as their ajenda goes forward. And then have the nerve to ignore what is right in front of their face.

that we can believe. So a citizen needs a Vongressional representative for the balance of power. And they stand up to the lies ...... right? Yeah, right. They cureent ones have been really honest about spying and bombing Iran. Yeah, right.

to kill us all. Every day something surfaces about this cabal. Something we have long suspected but can't seem to do anything about. I know I sound pessimistic, but since we have had to put up with almost 7 years of this, how else can I feel. We have good Democratic candidates. When will any of them get up and tell it to the public. Sometimes I think the only one we have on our side is Keith Olbermann. Now that man is a patriot. He is fed up and is not afraid to let the world know. We need more KOs! If only our candidates would band together (instead of taking potshots at each other) and let this country know just how dire the circumstances are. I just turned 75 years old. I have seen and heard it all. I endured the Great Depression, WW2, Korea, Vietnam. I don't know how much longer I can endure the mess in Iraq. No administration in my time has been as venal as this one. They rule us. By lies and intimidation. The Republicans who still stand by this president are treasonous. They are not supposed to serve the president. They serve US! I just had to get this off my chest. I am very very worried for my children and grandchildren. Our early patriots drew up a Constitution that is supposed to protect us. It has now been trampled on and may not survive.

he would make a great VP, or cabinet member of the next (dem) administration.

Remember when he was portrayed as an oddball for keeping all of those notebooks? I thought it was admirable then, and still do. He is a policy guy. He is an independent thinker. He was not one of the many who let their staffers do all the work and then just vote as told by the staffers - without reading bills.

How much will be enough to end this?

hiya cal04 and thanks for this :hi: :hug: :loveya: