Transcript for February 12

Peter Hoekstra, Jane Harman, Pat Roberts & Tom Daschle

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updated 12:57 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2006

TIM RUSSERT: Our issues this Sunday: President Bush insists Congress was briefed about his plan for wiretapping without a court order. What information was shared? When, and in what form? With us, four of the very few congressional leaders who had notice of the eavesdropping plan: former Democratic leader of the Senate, Tom Daschle of South Dakota; the ranking Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, Jane Harman of California; Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Pete Hoekstra of Michigan; and the Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Pat Roberts of Kansas. A special edition of MEET THE PRESS on the Constitution, legal and political ramifications of domestic wiretapping.

Good morning and welcome, all. A very complicated but important subject this morning. Let me start with the president’s comments in December at a news conference after the plan had been revealed by The New York Times, and then some follow-up comments he made in January. Let’s watch.

(Videotape, December 19, 2005)

PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH: And I authorized the interception of international communications of people with known links to al-Qaeda and related terrorist organizations. The program is carefully reviewed approximately every 45 days to ensure it is being used properly. Leaders in the United States Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on this program.

(End videotape)

(Videotape, January 23, 2006)

PRES. BUSH: When people say to me, “Well, he’s just breaking the law,” if I wanted to break the law, why was I briefing Congress?

(End videotape)

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Daschle, you were the leader of the Democrats when this plan was put in place by the president. Were you briefed? And to what extent?

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SEN. TOM DASCHLE, (D-S.D.): Well, I can’t get into the details, Tim, obviously because this is very sensitive information. We were briefed. We were not given all of the information that was—has been reported. There were many omissions, given what we were told then and what we now know. And so, yes, members of Congress were briefed, but it was far less than the comprehensive understanding of what was going on that many of us have today.

MR. RUSSERT: In those briefings, did anyone raise objections to the plan?

SEN. DASCHLE: Objections were raised both orally and, as you know now, Nancy Pelosi and others, Jay Rockefeller expressed real concern about these actions and about the approach that was now being employed by the administration.

MR. RUSSERT: Senator Roberts, you were part of the team of leaders that was briefed in Congress. Is that your recollection?

CONTINUED

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