The Washington Post reports:

Vice President Cheney's office acknowledged for the first time yesterday that it has dozens of documents related to the administration's warrantless surveillance program, but it signaled that it will resist efforts by congressional Democrats to obtain them.

Among the docuemnts Cheney acknowledges having in his possession:

They include 43 separate authorizations from President Bush for the program, which had to be renewed approximately every 45 days beginning on Oct. 4, 2001.

The letter also lists dates, from October 2001 through February 2005, for 10 legal memoranda from the Justice Department. Although Cheney's office has copies of the memos, none of them "was rendered to the Office of the Vice President," Coffin wrote.

As to 2004, the year of the Ashcroft hospital visit,

Coffin's letter indicates that Bush signed memos amending the program on March 19 and April 2 of that year. The details of the dispute have never been revealed publicly.

Th March 19 and April 2 memos amending the plan, signed by Bush, would seem to be key in understanding the objections of those in the Justice Department. I hope the Senate Judiciary Committee sticks with their plan to seek to hold the White House in contempt for not turning them over.

Update: Marty Lederman at Balkanization parses the letter from Cheney's office.