Do you know anything offhand in the law that would stop a subsequent President from just saying we are no longer following that Executive order?

I recall when millions of e-mails mysteriously disappeared during the Bush administration.

I just feel very strongly about the integrity of the Department of Justice.

I hope we do not have to wait that long this time, and I would hope that what you find you will report to this Committee, report to me and to Senator Sessions what you find.

We all know the famous Shakespeare, Hotspur, 'I can call them from the frothy depths,' the response, of course, being, 'Well, so can I, so can anybody.' But will they come when you summon them?

They have been deleted. They have disappeared. We all know they have disappeared.

I had the temerity once, when Dick and I were trying to figure out what was in the amendment, and I raise my hand, and I said, 'Mr. Chairman, could you tell me what was in that amendment that we just passed?'

Can you imagine how we would react if we heard the head of another country's government make such an order? There would be total outrage expressed by people from the right to the left in this country.

That is not the way this should operate. It should not operate that way in any administration.

I actually filmed it in here, but he and I started out as the two most junior members of the Senate Agriculture Committee.

I would just note that everybody in this room is a guest.

These lawyers told the administration not what President Bush should have heard, but rather what Vice President Cheney wanted to hear.

The President issued an Executive order on January 22nd of last year prohibiting the use of any interrogation technique not authorized by the Army Field Manual.

Is the DOJ website now makes available to the public a number of withdrawn OLC opinions. Is that the full set?

I do believe we need a true accounting and a comprehensive, nonpartisan review.

I have a great deal of respect for OPR. I have had a great deal of respect for it in Republican administrations and Democratic administrations.

The fact is that the law requires them to be retained. They were not retained.

The Department of Justice has to make determinations outside of politics.

I see his complicity in offering flimsy legal advice to justify the White House actions.

I can confirm to you that seven of the eight OLC opinions referenced in the OPR report have, in fact, been formally withdrawn.

I want to make sure that no future administration--I do not care whether it is of my party or the other party--makes such mistakes.

I have been best of friends for over 30 years.

Prosecuting the former administration's lawyers might be popular with some of the President's most left-wing supporters, but I am confident that such prosecutions would threaten the professional integrity of Government lawyers.

We must resist the temptation to criminalize policy differences and good-faith differences on legal matters.

I just want to know the facts.