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Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Wednesday he believed the Justice Department had previously instituted a policy that would give President Bush the last word on waterboarding.
Mukasey acknowledged that the president is part of a three-step approval process on harsh interrogation techniques, speaking during a tense hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee. He also outlined the process in a letter to the panel’s chairman, Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), released Tuesday night.
Mukasey stopped short of saying Bush actually gave the call on the controversial practice. But the disclosure drew the attention of Democrats and could be significant because the Bush administration had previously acknowledged that the simulated drowning technique was used on a handful of people soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. If the president gave his endorsement to waterboarding, he may have authorized a practice in violation of anti-torture laws, Democrats say.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), one of six Democrats to vote to confirm Mukasey last fall, was surprised to learn about the president’s potential role in approving waterboarding. She said this was the first time such a “defined process” had been disclosed. She pressed Mukasey to answer whether the process had been in effect previously.
“I believe this has always been the case,” Mukasey said. “I mean, I’m not — I should take a step back. I’m not authorized to say what happened in the past, but I wasn’t told — I was told [the process] wasn’t news.”
His testimony Wednesday marked the first time Mukasey appeared before the panel since his 2007 confirmation hearings. Once again, Mukasey refrained from answering direct questions on waterboarding, leaving Democrats frustrated.
Mukasey’s vague answers on waterboarding last fall nearly derailed his nomination, with the Senate ultimately confirming him by a 53-40 vote — a narrower margin than that of his controversial predecessor, Alberto Gonzales.
On Wednesday, Feinstein pressed Mukasey further. She said “it is widely alleged” that at least three people had been waterboarded in the past.
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