Who needs benchmarks when you can just miss deadlines?

As the White House fails to comply with a Senate subpoena, Cheney's office admits it has wiretap documents.

Published August 21, 2007 12:08PM (EDT)

As expected, the White House blew off Monday's deadline for giving the Senate Judiciary Committee documents about its warrantless wiretap program. In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, White House counsel Fred Fielding said last week that the White House wouldn't meet the deadline -- already extended once -- and that it probably wouldn't be producing many, if any, documents whenever it finally gets around to responding to the committee's subpoena.

Leahy responded with the appropriate but predictable outrage, saying he'll take up the matter with the full committee when the Senate returns from its August recess.

The only surprising development in the proceedings: Dick Cheney's office acknowledged Monday that it is in possession of warrantless wiretap documents that would be responsive to the committee's subpoenas. It won't be turning those over, either.


By Tim Grieve

Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog.

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Dick Cheney Espionage Patrick J. Leahy D-vt.