The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee said he is bothered by the attorney general nominee's refusal to say whether waterboarding is torture but will support his nomination to be head of the Department of Justice anyway.
Republican Senator Arlen Specter joined two key Senate Democrats in saying he will back President George W. Bush's choice, Michael Mukasey, because the retired judge has said that if Congress passes a law banning waterboarding, "the president would have absolutely no legal authority to ignore such a law."
"He could have said a lot of things which would have given me more assurances," Specter said on Sunday. "But he is intelligent; he's really learned in the law. He's strong, ethical, honest beyond any question. He's not an intimate of the president."
"And you have to balance it off with where we are today," Specter said. "The Department of Justice is dysfunctional. It is not performing. And every day that passes, we do not have someone in charge of the investigation against terrorism, the fight against violent crime."
The Judiciary Committee was set to vote on Mukasey's nomination today.
Republican Senator John McCain on Sunday reiterated his support for Mukasey, even though he said Mukasey's answers about waterboarding have not been totally clear.
"I wanted [Mukasey] to say that waterboarding was torture and illegal," McCain, a former prisoner of war, told reporters in Mason City, Iowa. "He said that he would get briefed on the procedures."
The Republican presidential candidate -- who is not on the Judiciary Committee -- said he received a letter from Mukasey that said the former judge found waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning, "repugnant and he would never support such a thing."
Mukasey's confirmation had been in doubt as five of the panel's 10 Democrats, including Chairman Patrick Leahy, had lined up against Mukasey after he refused to state categorically that waterboarding is illegal.
But last Friday, Democratic Senators Charles Schumer and Dianne Feinstein announced they would support the president's nomination. With nine Republicans on the panel, Schumer and Feinstein's support virtually guarantees that a majority of the committee will recommend his confirmation.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was