Washington, DC – After months of stonewalling, the White House has offered to release documents regarding its illegal wiretapping to the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee in an effort to ease the way for intelligence legislation it wants passed. The American Civil Liberties Union labeled the release manipulative and self-serving as these documents have been under subpoena for over four months. The administration has held onto the documents until Congress was in a position to aid the White House.

The following can be attributed to Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

"Since the administration’s domestic spying was revealed by the New York Times nearly two years ago, the questions surrounding it have hardly diminished. On the contrary, they’ve increased due to testimony from administration officials and other facts uncovered by the media. Americans have been waiting for answers for too long – we need the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

"Not to mention that it goes against all logic to see proof of illegal activity and then grant immunity. These documents must severely implicate the telecom companies. When Congress finally is handed the smoking gun, it must demand accountability. This trickle of documents is insufficient and, truth be told, a truckload of documents shouldn’t warrant a get-out-of-jail-free card to companies or officials that broke the law. The Senate Judiciary Committee and the rest of Congress should not be so quick to let the administration or the bells off the hook."

For more information about the ACLU’s work on FISA, go to:

www.aclu.org/fisa