WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A U.S. senator is charging Attorney General Alberto Gonzales "was not being straight" regarding confirmation-hearing questions on warrantless wiretaps.
Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., asked Gonzales about such wiretaps during hearings last year. At the time Gonzales said he could not answer a hypothetical question.
However, Feingold, in a letter to the attorney general, said recent revelations the Bush administration and National Security Agency were carrying out such taps -- and Gonzales as then White House counsel knew of them -- suggest something else.
A statement by Feingold, in which he refers to "misleading testimony," was made available on his Senate Web site.
The White House had informed a limited number of members of Congress of the program, begun shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, but Feingold was not among those members.
"It now appears the attorney general was not being straight with the Judiciary Committee and he has some explaining to do," the Feingold statement concluded.
