Countdown with Keith Olbermann - Trancript

Countdown with Keith Olbermann - Trancript

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STEWART: And Senator Barbara Boxer, thank you so much for joining us.

SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: Nice to be with you.

STEWART: Now what specifically did you ask these presidential scholars to consider? And have you heard back from any of them?

BOXER: I sent the presidential scholars a quote from John Dean who was the White House counsel during Watergate. And in my belief is probably the ultimate expert on what an abuse of power by a president means. And he said very clearly at a forum that I was with him on Sunday—he said at this forum that he said President Bush was the first president he knew to admit to an impeachable offense.

I was taken aback. I mean, I knew this was serious, spying on our own citizens without a warrant. But, you know, I was amazed to hear him say that. I asked if I could quote him. He said absolutely. He has since confirmed it. And I have asked these scholars to get back to me.

But in the meantime, there‘s lots of other things we need to do, which is to hold hearings on this. I think it is very important. To me, more important than the Supreme Court justice hearing. That can wait. Sandra Day O‘Connor is willing to sit on the bench as long as it takes. This is a question of the rights, liberties and freedoms of the American people being abused. And clearly so.

STEWART: Now, aside from raising the specter of impeachment, and getting some news coverage with this letter, what is it you really want to accomplish here?

BOXER: Well, I did not raise the specter of impeachment. John Dean did. And I think anyone who is alive and with a pulse knows that when Richard Nixon‘s former White House counsel says this is an impeachable offense, you ought to get some information. If I were not to do that, I don‘t think I deserve to be in the U.S. Senate.

So, what I‘m hoping to do is to definitely let people know that this is very serious. Plus, we have added to this the fact that the president in April of ‘04, two years after this program started, went out of his way to tell the American people in a speech, don‘t worry, we always get a warrant from a judge to check us.

We also have a situation where the vice president said, he never heard a word of dissent from any member of Congress. Today we saw a handwritten letter written by Senator Jay Rockefeller who was the Democratic ranking member on intelligence. The actual—the vice chair of the committee saying he was very, very concerned about this program.

And lastly, you have the president saying, we can‘t sit around and wait for a court. There are emergencies. Well, I read the law today. And under the FISA law which controls this, there is a separate section that Joe Biden wrote. He wrote the whole law that says in emergency, you can go ahead and spy on an American citizen, you just—you need 72 hours to go back and get the approval from a judge. So there‘s many troubling things about this.

STEWART: Senator, let me ask you a question. You mentioned that letter written by Mr. Rockefeller. Nancy Pelosi said that she has also written a letter, a classified letter, when she raised concerns. Just in terms of procedures, when all these letters are written, what happens?

BOXER: Well, what happens is, they were raising their objections and concerns to the administration. But they were under absolute requirement not to talk to a soul. The reason Jay Rockefeller actually wrote his letter by hand is he was worried that anyone would find out about it.

So he wrote in his letter, look, I can‘t talk to my legal people. I can‘t talk to my advisors on this. I am just telling you as an individual senator—I‘m telling you as an individual senator, to worry about the intelligence of this country, I have problems with this program. Because I think that Jay Rockefeller understands because of his position, how important it is to protect the American people.

My God, I voted to go to war, get al Qaeda, break their back, get Osama bin Laden. And I‘m very willing to do what it takes. But we have rules and regulations in our country to make sure that there is a check and balance on every branch of government. And what is so worrisome about this is this administration has not been truthful with the American people. I‘ve laid that out. And they seem to want to avoid all checks on their power. And this is reminiscent of the Watergate days.

STEWART: Now senator, why wouldn‘t this fall under what the administration is saying the use of necessary force, that the constitution allows the government to listen in on telephone calls during wartime?

BOXER: Yes, it does. And they have to go back and get the agreement of a FISA court. And here‘s the thing, they just don‘t want to be bothered, because I think they think no one is wiser than they. They don‘t want to have any check on what they do. They are at this point unchecked.

And this is not what our founders, you know, wanted for this country. They wanted to have a government of, by and for the people and to protect all of us from overreaching. If Barbara Boxer overreaches, the president has a veto. If President Bush overreaches, there‘s a FISA court. That‘s what is built into our constitution. And it has been revered by all of us. And to see it being disregarded is outrageous, especially since the excuses they‘re giving just don‘t hold up.

STEWART: And senator, I know we‘re running out of time. But I do want to ask you this one last question. In the White House press briefing today, Scott McClellan said Congress was fully briefed on this program. Were you?

BOXER: Absolutely not. We know that only a few people were told about it. They objected. And their objections were just thrown in the ash can. And that‘s the truth. I should say the trash can.

STEWART: Senator Barbara Boxer. Thanks so much for spending some time with us.

BOXER: Thanks a lot.

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