Countdown Newsletter -- 05/08/06: CIA Turmoil

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Tonight on Countdown
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President Bush on Monday chose Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to lead the embattled CIA, re-igniting a debate over the domestic surveillance program that he once ran. Republican and Democratic critics also questioned the wisdom of putting a military officer in charge of the civilian spy agency. Talk of Hayden's nomination rekindled debate over the administration's domestic surveillance program, which Hayden used to oversee as the former head of the National Security Agency. Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., had said in advance of the announcement that he would use a Hayden nomination to raise questions about the legality of the domestic surveillance program and did not rule out holding it up until he gets answers. "I'm not going to draw any lines in the sand until I see how the facts evolve," Specter said. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12685614/

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Kyle 'Dusty' Foggo, under internal CIA investigation as part of a burgeoning scandal involving defense and intelligence contracts, has resigned from the job of CIA Executive Director, according to an email sent out this morning to the agency's workforce. Foggo is the No. 3 official at the CIA.

Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald is wrapping up his investigation into White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove's role in the CIA leak case by weighing this central question: Did Rove, who was deeply involved in defending President Bush's use of prewar intelligence about Iraq, lie about a key conversation with a reporter that was aimed at rebutting a tough White House critic? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/07/AR2006050700717.html

A former congressional aide and business associate of convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty Monday to charges in connection with the investigation of influence-peddling and public corruption. Neil Volz, who served as chief of staff to Rep. Bob Ney, R-Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, including wire fraud and violating House rules, charges stemming from his work on Capitol Hill and the lobbying practice he joined after leaving Ney's office.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12687453/

Barry Bonds hit his 713th career home run in the San Francisco Giants' 9-5 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, moving within one of Babe Ruth for second place in Major League Baseball history. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aj4Oo0JHEKfU&refer=us

A man who stole a dead baby's name and lived as a bogus aristocrat has been unmasked as Charles Albert Stopford III, a US citizen from Florida. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/kent/4751415.stm

That's some of what we're planning for tonight's show.

Finally,
HANOVER, Pa. -- A 13-year-old boy told police his mother required him to do his homework first thing when he got off the school bus, then smoked marijuana with him as a reward. Amanda Lynn Livelsberger, 30, faces charges of marijuana possession, corruption of minors, endangering the welfare of children and possession with intent to distribute drug paraphernalia, police said. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/POT_AS_REWARD?SITE=NWCN&TEMPLATE=STRANGEHEADS.html&SECTION=HOME
-- Carey Fox

Countdown Home: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036677/

Other News:
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has written to President Bush proposing "new solutions" to their differences in the first letter from an Iranian leader to an American president in 27 years, government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said Monday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12683977/

Smoldering brush fires kept about 1,000 people from their homes Monday, and the heavy smoke shut down parts of Interstate 95 between Daytona Beach and the Cape Canaveral area. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12679464/

Man facing sentence for deadly R.I. club fire. Biechele could get 10 years for deaths of 100 people in pyrotechnic blaze. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10704044/

Aid workers and U.N. peacekeepers are trading food for sex with young girls in Liberian camps housing those left homeless by years of war, an aid group said Monday. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10663285/

Scientists have identified a common genetic marker that signals a 60 percent heightened risk of prostate cancer in men who carry it, and it may help explain why black men are unusually prone to the disease, a new study says. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12685715/

Kiefer Sutherland has revealed that a movie version of his hit US TV show 24 is to film in London. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4975762.stm