Leahy: Bush’s lawlessness worse than Nixon’s

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) blasted the Bush administration Wednesday, indicating that it is disregarding the law more flagrantly than the Nixon administration.

{mosads}“Certainly not since I’ve been old enough to vote have we had an administration so willing to ignore the law,” the 67-year-old senator said. “I’ve never known an administration so willing to operate outside the law, even to operate against the law, in violation of the law, as this administration.”

Leahy, who issued four subpoenas for documents relating to the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program Wednesday, added that his committee has made nine requests for documents relating to the program but has been rebuffed by the administration each time. He dubbed the White House’s reluctance to cooperate a “pattern of evasion and misdirection.”

The senator added that that his committee has “not been getting the truth” and that if the administration continues to “stonewall” his investigation, “they should pay the penalty.”

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who, along with Leahy, has spearheaded the Judiciary Committee’s probe into the firing of several U.S. attorneys, joined the chairman in criticizing the administration.

“The vice president doesn’t know what branch of the government he’s in. The president doesn’t know what the Constitution is. And the people don’t know what the heck is going on,” Schumer said. “We're going to find out. One way or another, we are going to find out.”