Perino Attempts To Defend Wiretapping Spin, Eventually Admits ‘I’m Not A Lawyer’

Think Progress
Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Over the weekend, the Bush administration went full throttle in attacking Congress for not granting “telecommunications firms immunity from violating federal privacy laws.” On Friday, Attorney General Michael Mukasey and DNI Michael McConnell sent a letter to Congress claiming that the nation was “now more vulnerable to terrorist attack and other foreign threats.”

In today’s White House press briefing, spokeswoman Dana Perino continued the attacks on Congress. When reporters pressed Perino to explain how intelligence analysts are now limited since the expiration of the Protect America Act (PAA), Perino was forced to concede that she had no idea:

QUESTION: Is it not the case, as the writers of the op-ed in today’s Post claim, that the law protects all of this until August?

PERINO: It’s a little bit more complex than that. […]

(Article continues below)

QUESTION: Dana, to be clear, don’t you still — you can still pursue that information, go after it, as long as you come back within three days and get a warrant under FISA, correct? I mean –

PERINO: I’m not a lawyer. […]

QUESTION: If this is such a big deal, why didn’t the president accept another extension? … The president made clear he wouldn’t accept it.

PERINO: Well, that’s true, but they wouldn’t have been able to pass it anyway.

Watch it:

Email This Page to:

 


PRISON PLANET.com     Copyright © 2002-2008 Alex Jones     All rights reserved.