CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
– INTELLIGENCE
May 22, 2009 – 11:46 a.m.
Under Pressure, Pelosi Stands by Comments on CIA
By Bennett Roth, CQ Staff
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declined to elaborate Friday on the controversy over her allegations that the CIA misled her about the use of harsh interrogation techniques during the George W. Bush administration.
“I have made the statement that I’m going to make on this,” she added. “I’m not going to have anything more to say about it. I stand by my comments.”
Asked about Republican attacks on her statements, Pelosi said she would not be distracted from the priorities of the Obama administration and the Democratic-controlled Congress.
Pelosi made her comments at a highly choreographed news conference that focused on the accomplishments of the 111th Congress so far. She was accompanied by Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland and Reps. Xavier Becerra of California and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland.
Pelosi did not take questions until more than a half-hour into the event, and then quickly made clear she would not go beyond what she has said at two previous news conferences. She ignored shouted reporters’ questions about the matter as she was leaving the room.
Friday marked the first time Pelosi had taken questions from the media since her testy May 14 news conference when she accused the CIA of misleading Congress about the use of waterboarding, a controversial interrogation technique that simulates drowning, in a September 2002 briefing.
CIA chief Leon E. Panetta said the next day that the agency’s officers “briefed truthfully;” Republicans have accused Pelosi of lying and demanded she either show proof or apologize.
The House Thursday rejected a Republican resolution to create a bipartisan panel to investigate Pelosi’s claim, but GOP lawmakers continued their attack. An aide to Rep. Peter T. King , R-N.Y., distributed a news release prior to Pelosi’s news conference saying King would offer a privileged resolution calling for the suspension of Pelosi’s security clearance because of her comments about the CIA.
Meanwhile, Pelosi has rallied House Democratic leaders to her side in an effort to defuse the issue.
“This has been an extraordinarily close-working team,” said Hoyer.
Comments
In my opinion she's a filthy liar. If you can't see that then you need your head examined. She's just trying to protect herself and her power. She was always leading the charge for investigations on republicans or don't you remember. Turn about is fair play Pelosi. We need a formal investigation.
I disagree, Dave, the CIA is NOTORIOUS for lying, George W. Bush is NOTORIOUS for lying, Dick Cheney is NOTORIOUS for lying. What motivation would she have for lying? I think she, like the rest of the reasonable public, want all politicians to get on with repairing our economy, ending the war that was founded upon LIES, resore our moral standing within the world, and stop comming up with commissions to investigaqte non-issues about events that occured in the past (which spends more of our taxes!) IT'S TIME TO BE SENSIBLE AND JUST STOP ALREADY!
Amazing how this mediocre person is still in office.Same as Biden, this people are congenital liars,no hope. God help us!
If we could command the truth, the Bush administration would have been a far different operation than it was, but, sadly, we cannot command the truth. Now, with the Obama administration, we have another chance. I believe we will have more truth now by far. At least most of the secrecy will be gone.
I wonder. Why would the present Director, a Democrat, confirm she was briefed. Something prettty fishy here. We need the investigation to ensure that the correct info is provided to congress in the future, on a need to know...
Busted out laughing twice this week when I heard "the CIA does not lie to Congress." And I wasn't even thinking about "slam dunk" Tenet. We know from the 1970s all kinds of misdeeds by the CIA. Even their budget is kept secret. No reason to believe things have changed there.
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