Democrat leaders have asked for an investigation into domestic spying.  However, the Whitehouse continues to deny it has broken the law yet continues to admit spying on the American people without sealed warrants from the FISA court.

In a letter released Monday, 18 House Democrats told Bush that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should appoint a special counsel to investigate the Whitehouse FISA violations. They stated that their efforts to get answers to legal and factual questions about the program have been stymied "generally based on the feeblest of excuses."

"If the effort to prevent vigorous and appropriate investigation succeeds, we fear the inexorable conclusion will be that these executive branch agencies hold themselves above the law and accountable to no one," wrote the lawmakers, led by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) a member of the Judiciary and Homeland Security committees.

In the past the Whitehouse has always insisted that congressional approval for the president to go to war in 2001 gives Bush the right to spy on the American people, maintaining a vague allusion to authority to use military force to fight terrorism.

Recently, when asked at a press conference on February 27 about the letter the Democrats wrote, McClellen said the breaking of the law is a“hot pursuit effort aimed at detection and prevention of attacks before they occur”, consistently playing the fear card as an excuse to break the law. 

He went on to claim that his lawyers (Bush appointed lawyers) said it was OK, therefore it has been “reviewed extensively”.  He also said there was no basis for a special council investigation and said the real criminals are the whistleblowers who are putting our country in jeopardy by exposing their illegal spying.