Executive Branch
FBI Director’s Notes Enhance Testimony
Posted Aug 16, 2007, 05:49 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Notes turned over to the House Judiciary Committee by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III reportedly describe former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft as “barely articulate,” “feeble” and “clearly stressed” during a now-infamous March 2004 encounter with top White House aides.
Nonetheless, the aides, including then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales were unsuccessful in their efforts to persuade Ashcroft to sign an extension permitting warrantless eavesdropping on Americans within the U.S. The notes add considerable detail to Mueller's sparing description of the scene during his July 26 testimony before the committee, according to the New York Times.
The newspaper describes what the typed, undated notes say based on information from unnamed sources.