[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 45 (Monday, November 12, 2007)]
[Pages 1453-1454]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

November 3, 2007

    Good morning. On Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee is expected 
to vote on Judge Michael Mukasey's nomination to be our next Attorney 
General. I thank the committee for scheduling this vote. I urge them to 
approve this fine man's nomination and send it to the full Senate as 
quickly as possible.
    In a time of war, it is vital for the President to have a full 
national security team in place, and the Attorney General is a key 
member of that team. The Attorney General is America's top law 
enforcement officer, with critical responsibilities for preventing 
terrorist attacks and protecting our Nation.
    Judge Mukasey is uniquely qualified to fill this vital role. He 
served nearly two decades on the Federal bench, and some of his most 
important legal experience is in the area of national security. He 
presided over the trial of the terrorist known as ``the Blind Sheikh'' 
and his codefendants in the conspiracy to destroy prominent New York 
City landmarks, including the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
    And when the World Trade Center was attacked again on September the 
11th, 2001, Judge Mukasey quickly reopened his court, even though it was 
just blocks from Ground Zero. He and other judges in his district worked 
day and night to ensure that applications for warrants were processed, 
investigations could proceed, and the rule of law was upheld.
    This is the kind of leader America needs to head the Department of 
Justice at this important moment in our history. Judge Mukasey is a man 
of achievement. He is a man of character. And he has been praised by 
Republicans and Democrats alike for his honesty, intellect, fairness, 
and independence.
    Since I sent his nomination to the Senate, Judge Mukasey has 
provided nearly 6 hours of testimony. He patiently answered more than 
200 questions during his hearings, and he responded promptly to nearly 
500 written questions. Yet some Senators are working against his 
nomination because they want him to take a position on the legality of 
specific techniques allegedly used to question captured terrorists.
    As Judge Mukasey explained in a letter to Judiciary Committee 
members, he cannot give such a legal opinion for several reasons. First, 
he does not know whether certain methods of questioning are in fact used 
because the program is classified; he's not been given access to that 
information, and therefore, he is in no position to provide an informed 
opinion.
    Second, he does not want our professional interrogators in the field 
to take an uninformed opinion he has given in the course of a 
confirmation hearing as meaning that any conduct of theirs has put them 
in legal jeopardy.
    Finally, he does not want an uninformed legal opinion to give 
terrorists a window into which techniques we may use and which we may 
not. That could help them train their operatives to resist questioning 
and withhold vital information we need to stop attacks and save lives.
    Congressional leaders should not make Judge Mukasey's confirmation 
dependent on his willingness to make a public judgment about a 
classified program he has not been briefed on. If the Senate Judiciary 
Committee were to block Judge Mukasey on these grounds, it would set a 
new standard for confirmation that could not be met by any responsible 
nominee for Attorney General. And that would guarantee that America 
would have no confirmed Attorney General during this time of war.
    Senate leaders should move Judge Mukasey's nomination out of 
committee and

[[Page 1454]]

bring it to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote. In this time of 
war, America needs the best people leading our efforts to protect the 
American people. With Judge Mukasey serving as Attorney General, our 
national security team will be stronger--and the Senate should confirm 
this good man as quickly as possible.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 7 a.m. on November 2 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on November 3. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
November 2 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
this address.