Vice President Dick Cheney on Tuesday called for “strong and robust” presidential powers and defended a secret wiretap program that some have criticized as unconstitutional.
“I believe in a strong, robust executive authority and I think that the world we live in demands it,” Cheney said. “I would argue that the actions that we’ve taken there are totally appropriate and consistent with the constitutional authority of the president.”
But senators said Congress cannot be sidelined.
“He has no legal basis for spying on Americans without court approval,” said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) joined three other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee in calling for a joint inquiry by the Senate judiciary and intelligence committees.
