Alberto R. Gonzales
PER
Gonzales Alberto R. Gonzales
The officials said that Andrew H. Card Jr., his chief of staff, and Alberto R. Gonzales, then White House counsel and now attorney general -- to make an emergency visit to a Washington hospital in March 2004 to discuss the program's future and try to win the needed approval from Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was hospitalized for gallbladder surgery. Some officials said that Mr. Ashcroft appeared reluctant to give Mr. Card and Mr. Gonzales his authorization to continue with aspects of the program in light of concerns among some senior government officials about whether the proper oversight was in place at the security agency and whether the president had the legal and constitutional authority to conduct such an operation.