Isikoff, Hosenball: New Documents Contradict Gonzales Testimony

Newsweek | Michael Isikoff, Mark Hosenball | July 26, 2007 10:20 AM

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A letter last year from the nation's top intelligence official raises new questions about the credibility of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's account of a ferocious dispute within the administration over domestic surveillance activities authorized by President Bush.

The letter by director of national intelligence at the time, John Negroponte, as well as public testimony by CIA Director Michael Hayden, seems to contradict sworn testimony by Gonzales this week about a crucial intelligence briefing for congressional leaders on activities in the White House Situation Room on March 10, 2004. The letter specifically lists the March 10 meeting as one of a number of "briefings" about the "Terrorist Surveillance Program."