According to what the New York Times has said, four senior George W. Bush administration lawyers had debated the fate of those CIA interrogation tapes. One of those lawyers was Alberto Gonzales, the former Attorney-General.
The White House said that the implications that it was hiding facts needed to be corrected. Bush’s administration has already refused to comment directly on the case of the tapes’ destruction.
There are three investigations going on regarding the actions by the CIA in destroying those tapes. Congress and the Department of Justice are looking into how and why the tapes came to be destroyed in the first place.
The CIA is also looking into the issue itself.
So far, George W. Bush’s administration had refused to cooperate with the investigation.
“We will continue to decline to comment on this issue, and in response to misleading press reports,” said Dana Perino, the White House press secretary.
She added: “The New York Times’ inference that there is an effort to mislead in this matter is pernicious and troubling.”
Along with Alberto Gonzales, another one of the lawyers mentioned was Harriet Miers, the ex-White House counsel. The other two were David Addington and John Bellinger. Addington is a lawyer in Dick Cheney’s office while John Bellinger is a national security council lawyer.
Michael Mukasey, the US Attorney-General ruled last week that it was inappropriate for the White House to release information to Congress at the same time that the Department of Justice was looking into the matter.