What is the legal standard for probable cause for a warrant?
FBI attorney: A reasonable belief that the facts you are trying to prove are accurate. Question by me: Reason to believe? Answer by the attorney: Reasonable belief. Question by me: Reasonable belief? Answer by the attorney: More probable than not. My question: More probable than not? Mr. President, that is not the standard. The standard is suspicion under the totality of the circumstances. Here is the key attorney who is supposed to pass on applications for warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and he doesn’t know the standard. My question was: Are you familiar with Gates v. Illinois? Answer: No, sir. He doesn’t know the baseline case for deciding what the standard is for probable cause, and he is the man who is supposed to approve warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act so that we can find out what men like Zacarias Moussaoui are doing and protect the American people. I was absolutely astounded at what I heard. I was astounded because the June 6 he
