Marty Lederman notes -- wonderfully! -- that we've seen the Ashcroft hospital room before, vividly.
...probably the President himself, by Comey's account -- calls Mrs. Ashcroft, and implores her to allow Alberto Gonzales and Andy Card to come to GW Hospital to persuade John Ashcroft, in his weakened and drug-induced state, to sign off on the program, i.e., to overrule Comey even though Comey is the Acting AG. Mrs. Ashcroft tells Comey about the impending meeting at the hospital, and he (literally) runs down the stairs to a waiitng vehicle to get to the hospital -- using emergency equipment! -- before the White House Chief of Staff and Counsel get there! While Comey is waiting for them to arrive, he calls the Director of the FBI for support, and then the FBI Director speaks to the AG's security detail and -- this is the best part -- "instructed the FBI agents present not to allow me [Comey] to be removed from the room under any circumstances"!
Yes, if you think this sounds familiar, it is -- it eerily resembles the scene in which Michael Corrleone "protects" his father at the hospital in The Godfather. With Jack Goldsmith as Enzo the Baker, and Alberto Gonzales as McCluskey the crooked cop. (The President, of course, is Sollozzo.)...
Read the whole thing. Savor it. Hope against hope that, once again, Solozzo and McCluskey get whacked, as one commenter suggests...
