[Spying program] went forward without certification from the Department of Justice as to its legality,

Ashcroft's ex-no. 2 says Gonzales, Cheney tried to take advantage of sick Attorney General | Michael Roston | Published: Tuesday May 15, 2007

The former second-in-command at the Justice Department from 2003 through 2005 on Tuesday detailed a March 2004 incident in which top members of the Bush administration, including Alberto Gonzales and members of Vice President Dick Cheney's staff, worked to subvert a legal certification process for the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program. One Republican senator compared the episode to President Richard Nixon's efforts to disrupt the Watergate investigation.

James Comey was the Deputy Attorney General first under Attorney General John Ashcroft, and briefly under Alberto Gonzales. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday as part of continuing oversight pertaining to the firing of US Attorneys by the Bush administration.

However, most of the hearing focused on a March 2004 incident concerning a deadline for an internal authorization at the Justice Department of the legality of the warrantless domestic spying program of the National Security Agency. The deadline for the legal certification of the domestic spying program, called the 'Terrorist Surveillance Program' by the Bush administration, was approaching, and Comey as Acting Attorney General refused to approve it.

"[The program] went forward without certification from the Department of Justice as to its legality," Comey told Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) in explaining his threat to resign over the incident in 2004.
...
Subsequently, Gonzales, serving then as White House Counsel, and Andrew Card, former White House Chief of Staff, arrived at Ashcroft's hospital bed, and asked the sick Attorney General to give his approval for the program. Ashcroft stated his strong opposition to the re-authorization. But then he added that his opinion was not important.

"But that doesn't matter, because I'm not the Attorney General, there's the Attorney General," Comey claimed Ashcroft said, with Ashcroft pointing at the Deputy Attorney General who was in the hospital room at the time. "The two men did not acknowledge me, they turned and walked from the room."

Comey was called to the White House by Card almost immediately thereafter, but said he would not meet Card without Solicitor General Theodore Olson as a witness because the Acting Attorney General was concerned with the conduct of the top White House officials.

"I was angry, I thought I had just witnessed an effort to take advantage of a very sick man who did not have the powers of the Attorney General because they had been transferred to me," he explained.

Comey further explained that a "large number" of officials within the Justice Department were threatening to resign as a consequence of the incident, including Comey. ...