Former President Clinton said Thursday that he never ordered wiretaps of
American citizens without obtaining a court order, as President Bush has
acknowledged he has done.

Clinton, in an interview broadcast Thursday on the ABC News program
''Nightline,'' said his administration either received court approval before
authorizing a wiretap or went to court within three days after to get
permission, as required by law.

''We either went there and asked for the approval or, if there was an
emergency and we had to do it beforehand, then we filed within three days
afterward and gave them a chance to second guess it,'' Clinton told ABC.


Bush said in December that he authorized wiretaps without obtaining court
permission and defended the practice as a ''vital tool'' in tracking terrorist
suspects and accomplices.

''I don't have enough facts to know why there would be some reluctance to
go there,'' Clinton told ABC. ''I felt that the court and the setup was more
than enough to do what we needed to do.''

Asked if the president should have the authority to order wiretaps without
warrants, Clinton said, ''I think that's a decision the Supreme Court would have
to resolve.''

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter recalls the days when
fellow Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa started proceedings to hold
Attorney General William French Smith in contempt, during the Reagan
administration. "And that was at about a time when Attorney General Smith was
inviting some members of the Judiciary Committee to have lunch, and he was very
dour during the entire lunch as far as his attitude toward me. I found out
why at the end of the lunch; he wanted to know why I wanted to hold him in
contempt," recalls Specter.

Grassley, at Specter's urging, turns the table with a story about the
time his constituents blamed him for Specter's actions.

"Tell your Anita Hill story, Chuck," says Specter.

Grassley settled behind his microphone: "He asked the questions of Anita
Hill, and I was sitting behind him -- or beside him very quietly because
only two Republicans were going to ask questions. And I went back to
my constituency, and everybody said to me, 'You were awful to Anita Hill.
You just treated her awful,' because they got me mixed up with" with
Specter.

An aghast Specter replies: "Wait, I didn't know you were going to tell that
part of the thing."

12:24 -- USC drives to the Texas 43 with 8 seconds left ... of course, they
don't have any timeouts left ... leading to the inevitable Leinart incompletion
... game over! Your national champions, the Texas Longhorns! What a comeback!

As we see the Longhorns and their fans celebrating, ABC's cameras catch
Leinart and Carroll hugging and Leinart whispering the words, "God, I wish I
knew how to quit you!" All right, I made that up. But that's the only way this
defeat could have been worse for USC fans.

Good morning. I just had breakfast with Judge Alito. I told him I think he
conducted himself with such dignity and class in the weeks leading up to the
confirmation process, which begins today. Sam Alito is imminently qualified to
be a member of the bench. I’m not the only person who feels that way -- the
American Bar Association looked at his record, looked at his opinions, looked at
his temperament, and came to the same conclusion, that he is well qualified to
be a Supreme Court judge.

Sam’s got the intellect necessary to bring a lot of... class to
that Court. He’s got a judicial temperament necessary to make sure that
the Court is a body that interprets the law and doesn’t try to write the law.
And so I’m looking forward to your hearings. I know the American people will be
impressed, just like I have been impressed and a lot of other members of the
Senate have been impressed.

BLITZER: Should Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, who has now
pleaded guilty to bribery charges, among other charges, a Republican lobbyist in
Washington, should the Democrat who took money from him give that money to
charity or give it back?

DEAN: There are no Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, not one,
not one single Democrat. Every person named in this scandal is a Republican.
Every person under investigation is a Republican. Every person indicted is a
Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal. There is no evidence that Jack
Abramoff ever gave any Democrat any money. And we've looked through all of those
FEC reports to make sure that's true.

BLITZER: But through various Abramoff-related organizations and outfits, a
bunch of Democrats did take money that presumably originated with Jack
Abramoff.

DEAN: That's not true either. There's no evidence for that either. There is
no evidence...

BLITZER: What about Senator Byron Dorgan?

DEAN: Senator Byron Dorgan and some others took money from Indian tribes.
They're not agents of Jack Abramoff. There's no evidence that I've seen that
Jack Abramoff directed any contributions to Democrats. I know the Republican
National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They're
scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth. They have misled the
American people. And now it appears they're stealing from Indian tribes. The
Democrats are not involved in this.

BLITZER: Unfortunately Mr. Chairman, we got to leave it right there.

Howard Dean, the chairman of the Democratic Party, always speaking out
bluntly, candidly.

The transcriptionist didn't bother to put in Blitzer's DEEP SIIIIIIGGHH
before his last comment.