Obama Thinking About Investigating Bush Administration?
The top question on Change.gov's "Open for Questions" feature last week asked whether President-elect Obama will appoint a special prosecutor to "independently investigate" the "greatest crimes" committed under Bush. The inquiry, submitted by Bob Fertik of Democrats.com, has received over 22,000 votes. Today, ABC's George Stephanopoulos asked Fertik's question to Obama:
Q: The most popular question on your own website is related to this. On change.gov it comes from Bob Ferdick of New York City and he asks, 'Will you appoint a special prosecutor ideally Patrick Fitzgerald to independently investigate the greatest crimes of the Bush administration, including torture and warrantless wiretapping.'
OBAMA:We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth. And obviously we're going to be looking at past practices and I don't believe that anybody is above the law. On the other hand, I also have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. ... My orientation is going to be moving foward.
Obama explained that he doesn't want CIA employees to "suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering." He did not specifically rule out a special prosecutor, saying, "That doesn't mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law, that they are above the law."
