White House Urges Judge Not to Probe CIA Tapes

The Bush administration has asked a federal judge—who issued a 2005 order demanding the safeguarding of evidence on detainees—not to investigate the CIA's destruction of interrogation videotapes, the AP reports. White House lawyers, addressing the tapes issue for the first time in court, say that if Judge Henry Kennedy orders a hearing, it could interfere with investigations by Congress and the Justice Department.

They argue that the judge's order referred specifically to Guantanamo and that the destroyed videotapes were not made there. The administration says that if Kennedy orders CIA officials to testify about the tapes’ destruction, that "could potentially complicate the ongoing efforts to arrive at a full factual understanding of the matter." (More Michael Mukasey stories.)