“The point is that he acted in violation of statutes, didn’t he?” Specter asked.
“I don’t know whether he acted in violation of statutes,” Mukasey said.
Feinstein said that the Justice Department appeared to be stonewalling an investigation by the Office of Special Counsel, which is looking into whether the Bush administration violated the Hatch Act in the firing of former U.S. Attorney for New Mexico David Iglesias.
“Cooperation with our investigation is not optional,” Scott J. Bloch, special counsel, said in a lengthy Jan. 25 letter seeking more information on whether Iglesias was fired for political reasons.
Mukasey assured Feinstein the department would comply with that request.
But most of the attention at the hearing focused on waterboarding.
Earlier in the hearing, Mukasey told Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) that the method by which to measure when a tough interrogation technique is needed should fall under a “shocks-the-conscience” standard. That standard essentially is a “balancing test” between the “heinousness of doing it, the cruelty of doing it” versus the value of the information the detainee might divulge.
“You’re the first person I’ve ever heard say what you just said,” Biden said. “Matter of fact, it shocks my conscience.”
When asked by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) whether he would consider waterboarding torture if he were subjected to the practice, Mukasey replied: “I would feel that it was.”
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