The White House pressure on the interrogation issue continued into 2005 after Ashcroft resigned and Bush moved his longtime counsel, Gonzales, into the office of Attorney General.
In an April 27, 2005, e-mail, Comey recounted a meeting in which "the AG explained that he was under great pressure from the Vice President to complete both [replacement] memos, and that the President had even raised it last week, apparently at the VP's request and the AG had promised they would be ready early this week."
Comey also noted that Steven Bradbury, who had been named acting chief of the OLC, "was getting similar pressure from [White House counsel] Harriet Miers and David Addington to produce the opinions. Parenthetically, I have previously expressed my worry that having Steve as "Acting' and wanting the job would make him susceptible to just this kind of pressure."
Addington's job threat against Philbin also proved not to be an idle one. In summer 2005, when Philbin was picked for a high-level job in the Office of Solicitor General, Philbin said Addington strenuously objected and Vice President Cheney personally called Gonzales to ask that the appointment be withdrawn.
"AG Gonzales agreed and told Philbin that he had decided that Philbin would not receive the job in order to maintain good relations with the White House," a footnote in the OPR report said. When Philbin protested, Gonzales said he should resign, which Philbin finally did.
Meanwhile, Comey worried about the damage that the White House pressure on the interrogation memos might do to the Justice Department and the Attorney General.
In one e-mail, Comey warned that "this opinion would come back to haunt the AG and DOJ. " the people who were applying pressure now would not be here when the sh*t hit the fan. Rather, they would simply say they had only asked for an opinion. It would be Alberto Gonzales in the bullseye."
Comey added: "It leaves me feeling sad for the Department and the AG. I don't know what more is to be done, given that I have already submitted my resignation. I just hope that when all of this comes out, this institution doesn't take the hit, but rather the hit is taken by those individuals who occupied positions at OLC and OAG [Office of the Attorney General] and were too weak to stand up for the principles that undergird the rest of this great institution."
Comey told the OPR investigators that there was pressure from the White House and particularly Vice President Cheney and his staff. Though they never were specific about their desired outcome on the memos, Comey said you would have to "be an idiot not to know what was wanted."
Comey felt that acting OLC chief Bradbury knew that "if he rendered an opinion that shut down or hobbled the [interrogation] program," Cheney and Addington would be "furious."
Bellinger, who moved from the NSC to the State Department in 2005, told OPR that there was tremendous pressure on the Justice Department to conclude that the interrogation program was legal and could continue.
New Torture Memos
Finally in May 2005, acting OLC chief Bradbury signed three new "torture" memos. In June, Bush formally nominated him to be assistant attorney general for the OLC (although Democratic objections in the Senate prevented him from ever gaining confirmation).
With Bradbury's memos reaffirming many of the administration's brutal interrogation techniques, Comey began preparing for his exit.
Though having been a successful prosecutor on past terrorism cases, such as the Khobar Towers bombing which killed 19 U.S. servicemen in 1996, Comey had earned the derisive nickname from Bush as "Cuomey" or just "Cuomo," a strong insult from Republicans who deemed former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo to be excessively liberal and famously indecisive.
On Aug. 15, 2005, in his farewell speech, Comey urged his colleagues to defend the integrity and honesty of the Justice Department.
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