Attorney General Michael Mukasey speaks before the House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary concerning “Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice”

Congressman John Conyers (D-MI) opened the Justice Department Oversight Hearing today saying that he was disappointed by Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s failure to respond to an advanced letter posing critical questions in several areas. Conyers’ first question posed to Mukasey today asked whether or not he was prepared to launch a criminal investigation into the confirmed use of waterboarding by agents to interrogate terror suspects. Mukasey promptly said no and justified his answer by saying that waterboarding was an authorized part of the CIA program at the time of its use.

During Mukasey’s opening testimony, he encouraged Congress to renew the Protect America Act which is poised to expire but did not elaborate on the details of the law. He also encouraged the passing of the S2248 bill offering “retroactive immunity” to certain people. He said that the bill would protect phone companies which were compliant with the government after 9/11.