On the July 24 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume, on-screen text identified Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) as a Democrat during a report from chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' July 24 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The text appeared during footage of Specter telling Gonzales that the committee would be reviewing his testimony about a March* 10, 2004, confrontation over the Bush administration's warrantless domestic wiretapping program to “see if your credibility has been breached to the point of being actionable.” Angle introduced the footage of Specter as an example of “other[]” senators who “urged the attorney general to correct his testimony, vaguely warning of legal action.” At no time during Angle's report did anyone say that Specter was, in fact, a Republican.

Host Brit Hume, in his preview of Angle's report on the hearing, said that Gonzales “end[ed] up being called untrustworthy and a liar by Senate Democrats.” Angle's report mentioned only one other senator by name, Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), as criticizing Gonzales. Rockefeller was identified as “the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence committee” in 2004. Angle also mentioned that another “senator asked [Gonzales] flatly why he insists on staying on the job” and that, in response, “Gonzales said that's a good question.” The question was from Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI).

As Media Matters for America has noted, former Deputy Attorney General James B. Comey told the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 15 about the March* 10, 2004, confrontation over the wiretapping program. Comey testified that Gonzales, who was White House counsel at the time, and Andrew Card, then the White House chief of staff, had attempted to pressure then-Attorney General John Ashcroft -- who was ill at a hospital and had transferred his official powers to Comey -- to approve the eavesdropping program despite the Justice Department's refusal to sign off on its legality. As The Washington Post reported on May 17, Gonzales told two congressional committees in February 2006 that the warrantless wiretapping program “had not provoked serious disagreement involving Comey or others.”

Media Matters has previously noted examples of Fox News misidentifying Republicans as Democrats.

From the July 24 edition of Fox News' Special Report with Brit Hume:

HUME: Next on Special Report, Alberto Gonzales tells his side of that late-night hospital meeting -- remember that? -- and ends up being called untrustworthy and a liar by Senate Democrats.

[...]

HUME: Welcome to Washington, I'm Brit Hume. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales faced the most intense congressional grilling yet and the harshest criticism. The subject was a dramatic late-night visit to then-Attorney General Ashcroft's hospital room and the events leading up to it. Chief Washington correspondent Jim Angle reports.

[begin video clip]

ANGLE: In another contentious hearing, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told senators today that in an emergency meeting at the White House in March 2004, eight key members of Congress were briefed on a classified intelligence program aimed at terrorists and urged the administration to continue it over the objections of then-acting Attorney General James Comey.

GONZALES: The consensus in the room from the congressional leadership is that we should continue the activities at least for now, despite the objections of Mr. Comey.

ANGLE: Comey, who testified in May about the controversy, was acting in place of Attorney General John Ashcroft, who was in the hospital and who had previously approved the same program. That was the day before the Madrid bombings and the intelligence community was on edge and worried about losing a key tool in the fight against terrorists. Gonzales said the Gang of Eight, the leaders of Congress from both parties and of the intelligence committees, urged officials to continue the program uninterrupted but said they couldn't help with emergency legislation.

GONZALES: There was also consensus that it would be very, very difficult to obtain legislation without compromising this program but that we should look for a way ahead.

ANGLE: So Gonzales and former White House chief of staff Andy Card went to see John Ashcroft in the hospital.

GONZALES: We felt it important that the attorney general knew about the views and the recommendations of the congressional leadership.

ANGLE: But Ashcroft refused to overrule Comey. One official who attended the Gang of Eight meeting tells Fox the Gonzales account is accurate, that members of Congress asked penetrating questions about safeguards, but agreed on the value of the program and the consequences of not continuing it.

Senator Jay Rockefeller, who was the ranking Democrat at the time on the Senate Intelligence committee and has never argued the program should be stopped, but he told reporters today the eight officials were briefed but not told about an impending crisis. “We had meetings to brief us on certain programs, but there was never, ever brought up the question of whether or not they all agree in terms of legality. We never even discussed it.”

He went on to accuse Gonzales of committing perjury, and others urged the attorney general to correct his testimony, vaguely warning of legal action.

SPECTER: The chairman has already said that the committee is going to review your testimony very carefully to see if your credibility has been breached to the point of being actionable.

ANGLE: On the question of the firing of U.S. attorneys, Specter also suggested members might be willing to interview officials in private, as the White House has insisted. But he rejected White House assertions Congress can't even seek contempt citations for officials who refuse to appear. And he warned that if there is no other way to get to the bottom of the firings of the U.S. attorneys, other options are available.

SPECTER: The attorney general has the authority to appoint a special prosecutor. You're recused, but somebody else could do it.

[end video clip]

ANGLE: Gonzales also endured another round of accusations and insults. One senator asked him flatly why he insists on staying on the job. Gonzales said that's a good question, but he had to decide whether it would be better to leave or stay and try to fix the problems. He said he chose the latter and gave no indication he is thinking about leaving.

This item originally stated that the confrontation at Ashcroft's hospital bedside took place on May 10, 2004. In fact, it happened during the night of March 10, 2004. Media Matters regrets the error.