Since the Protect America Act lapsed one week ago, the White House and congressional conservatives have gone into full spin mode, hounding the Congress for its refusal to grant telecom amnesty.

In Saturday’s Radio Address, President Bush alleged that without immunity, private companies will be “increasingly unwilling” to cooperate in intelligence activities, pinning the blame on the House:

But in reality, on Friday night — the day before Bush’s radio address — those companies agreed to temporarily cooperate with the administration’s surveillance. “We learned last night…that new surveillances under existing directives issued pursuant to the Protect America Act will resume, at least for now,” explained DNI Mike McConnell and the Justice Department.

In a hearing today, McConnell reluctantly admitted that White House officials were also notified on “Friday night” about the developments, but Bush went ahead and aired his false attack in the radio address the next day. Watch it:

In a testy exchange with Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), McConnell tried to defend the White House’s attack on the House, claiming it was a simple issue of “verb tense.” “The radio address is normally taped on Friday morning,” before the companies announced their cooperation, he explained. “I would agree with” the radio address, McConnell added.

Levin summed up the sequence of events: “The White House was notified Friday night. And yet they still played that address on Saturday morning.”