House intel chair: CIA 'affirmatively lied'

Posted: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:08 PM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: Congress, Democrats

From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
The House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes

claims the CIA "affirmatively lied to" his panel. He said so in a letter to Pete Hoekstra, the committee's ranking Republican, CQ reports.

Reyes "wrote that the committee has recently received information that reveals significant problems with the intelligence agency’s reporting to the panel," CQ writes. " 'These notifications have led me to conclude this committee has been misled, has not been provided full and complete notifications, and (in at least one occasion) was affirmatively lied to,' Reyes wrote. Reyes did not describe or detail the alleged false or misleading statements to the committee."

CQ characterized it as a warning to Republicans "to avoid politicizing the intelligence authorizaton bill later this week. ... Republicans contend a provision of the fiscal 2010 bill (HR 2701) scheduled for floor action Thursday would modify congressional notification procedures to provide political cover for Speaker Nancy Pelosi . Such briefings are a sensitive political topic, because Republicans have repeatedly criticized Pelosi over what she knew and when about the Bush administration’s use of harsh interrogation techniques and her assertion that the CIA “misled” Congress on that topic."

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Comments

CQ characterized it as a warning to Republicans "to avoid politicizing the intelligence authorizaton bill later this week.
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Read that lying right wing dings. stop politicizing and polarizing this nation.

Beverly in Chicago (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:20 PM)

Pat: Enjoy the tall ships and the granddaughters. Here in Indiana you see houseboats about as tall as a stalk of corn. Someday I plan to take my wife to Boston to see the universities and Boston commons, Old North Church.

It's not a surprise that the CIA did not tell the truth. As Eric would say,"In Nancy Pelosi I trust."

Ron Indiana (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:29 PM)

Ha Ha Nancy Pelosi was right all along that the CIA routinely lies to Congress. I mean what naive fool doesn't realize that the CIA is a misleading operation that uses black budgets and black ops to keep us from knowing what they do in our name? They are so secretive because they do our dirty work. So yes the CIA routinely lies to Congress to keep it in the dark and to give Congress cover.

What a lie the repugnant ones are passing around that the new intelligence authorization bill is merely to give Nancy Pelosi poltical cover. The dopes of nope had better learn when to cool it before they get themselves in more trouble with Mainstream America whining about everything Obama and Democratic Party.

In Nancy Pelosi We Trust!

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:29 PM)

The lengths the Democrats will go to protect Pelosi. Nancy stood up on a state, wagged her finger for all to see, and told us the CIA lied to her. They didn't. Nancy was at the meetings that discussed the interrogation techniques, she heard what the CIA was doing, and didn't say one word against those techniques. Now this massive dance has to take place to cover up for Nancy's lies.

Tired of The Democrats Lies (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:32 PM)

What???? The CIA lied????? Tell me it isn't so.....

D, Lovettsville, VA (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:32 PM)

This is EXACTLY what Rep. Pete Hoekstra said HIMSELF !!

This is what LYING SCOUNDREL ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich said

Yet, they sucessfully Demonized Speaker Nancy Pelosi about this issue

I don't just Blame CONSERVATIVES....
WHERE WERE The DEMOCRATS to Support Nancy Pelosi ?
Where were they when she needed her back covered ??

I hear Democrats on this blog criticizing Pelosi and Reid
WHY ??

Why not support your Congressional Leadership ?

Republicans Lie, Cheat, Steal, fly to Argentina for 'soul mating', romance their campaign staff and their fellow Republicans support them.....

Gor Figure !!

NANCY, YOU'RE MY Representative
GREAT JOB !!
GREAT LEADERSHIP !!

MSierra, SF (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:32 PM)

Is this the story that certain journalists and pundits were beside themselves with anger because "Nancy Pelosi lied" didn't make all the headlines?

Pat, Boston, MA (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:34 PM)

First Read: "Reyes did not describe or detail the alleged false or misleading statements to the committee."

Of course he didn't. Because if he did, the person he accused of lying would have to respond. And that person responded, it would challenge Reyes statements. Reyes statements would then, just like Pelosi's, fall apart like a house of cards. So if you keep it bland and high level like Reyes is doing, you can perputate the myth that the CIA lies.

KK Lang, Washington DC (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:35 PM)

Hmm...

So Nancy can claim that the CIA lied at least once, thereby throwing into doubt any arguments that she had only accused the CIA of lying to protect herself.

The HIC report does not necessarily have to identify or accuse any specific CIA agents, thereby avoiding any embarrassment there.

Once the bill has passed (and does anyone think it won't?), the democrats can claim that concerns about the CIA providing misleading information to Congress have been investigated and handled in a decent and professional manner.

Any republican efforts to revive the controversy around Nancy can then be dismissed as meaningless old news.

If Nancy did know anything about the "enhanced interrogation techniques" as they were being used, the truth will be swept under the rug.

All that said, I thought that the accusation against Nancy was a non-starter to begin with (read, I really didn't care, since she had pathetically limited power to do anything about it). I am just impressed with the work being done to wipe it away.

Richard, Seattle (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:36 PM)

Bad Chihuahua

I’ve got your back.

I know what you’re smellin’. Probably take a lot of Clorox to get rid of it.

Moon Dawg (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:36 PM)

Oh just wait until we hear the dopes of nope whine baby whine about this new revelation by the head of the Intelligence Committee. Just goes to show Nancy was correct all along. Time for the repugnant ones to wipe the egg off their faces.

"Meanwhile, the Obama media is still trying to figure out who Walter Cronkite was and why the earth is flat." Bad Chihuahua

Hey Bad Little Mutt - Maybe you should figure out who Walter Cronkite was, he was a great Liberal media newscaster who broke party ranks to expose the Vietnam war for being as crooked as it was. I remember Walter's newcasts fondly and know that he would never be a part of fox and freaks because he's way too honest. As for the flat earth rant that's what you evangelical christian lunatic fringers think, not us Liberals who believe in Evolution instead of that Creationism lie. Bow Wow, be careful you don't get stepped on.

Walter Cronkite was the Best of the Liberal Media!

Eric, Salinas, CA (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:36 PM)

I'd love to have been in the room when CIA head Leon Panetta first heard about this. Leon has a choice now, he can ignore what Reyes says and hopes it goes away (fat chance) or he can challenge Reyes for specifics, and then we get to see a Democrat vs. Democrat cat fight.

Jenny Katz, MN (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:38 PM)

Good for Reyes, and unlike some GOPers, he is not disclosing the information for security reasons. The republicans have been trying to cover their own backsides by attacking Pelosi and other democrats on this issue. Those such as Boehner who were not in the room have no proof of what she knew or when she knew it. The CIA records are questionable even to the point of briefing someone who didn't exist. There is no doubt in my mind that the CIA was lead by Cheney for the last eight years and that much of what went on was kept from both republicans and democrats. I may disagree with republicans on many issues but I would hope they would not have rubber stamped a lot of Bush/Cheney activities had they known the truth. It is easy to forget that Bush and Cheney damaged the republican party's reputation for years to come and they know it. All the GOP can do now is try switching the focus onto Pelosi and democrats.

Jody, Iowa (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:38 PM)

So what. Obama and Biden lied to us about the stimulus creating jobs, and no one cares about that. So why would anyone care about this?

Approval Ratings (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:40 PM)

So Reyes did not describe or detail the alleged 'lies'. Nice job, there, Reyes.

I don't suppose I'm the only person who finds this a blatant attempt to get the heat off Pelosi. If Reyes thinks that he can cover for her, and keep their majority, I have a bridge to sell him, cheap.

no joe, no bo, nj (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:41 PM)

Feisty, please do not comment. Your opinions play like a broken record.

Chris,Wexford, Pa (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:43 PM)

Obama is more concerned with distributing wealth than creating it.

Elaine, Miami, FL

================

Wrong. Obama is not distributing the wealth. He's destroying it.

Georgia Peach (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:46 PM)

Feisty Airhead (earlier post)

Delusional, are ya? Hey, all of us get sick or something sooner or later. I've got another imposter talking for me. Maybe you're reading that dweeb. Maybe you ARE that dweeb. It doesn't matter. We'll all be dead in 50 years.

Bad Chihuahua (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:53 PM)

Carl Rove is disposed in this matter, like flushed down the "toilet", and the Republican party is looking for someone that can see "Russia" from their house and won't quit on them. The party of no keeps looking for someone to cover for their lies that are being exposed everyday. What don't come out of the wash, comes out in the rinse.

Robert-Colorado (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:53 PM)

". . . just as Republicans warned it would be last winter when we called for an economic recovery bill based on fast-acting tax relief for small businesses and working families rather than spending on slow-moving government programs."

These are exactly the policies that got us into so much trouble in the first place. Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts!

Matthew, Houston, TX

===================

Wrong. The tax reductions actually stimulated more tax revenue, just like they always do. What caused the problem was banks loaning money to people to buy houses they couldn't afford.

You already knew that, but you needed something to club people that got a tax break, and so that's what you used.

Liar Liar (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:53 PM)

What say you Boehner?

wrong again i see.

Greg P. NW Indiana (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:56 PM)

Obam's Twitter .... by the main TWIT.

Well, if the shoe fits.

BC (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:57 PM)

So, are there really bad apples in the Obama/Panetta CIA who have 'affirmitively lied' to Congress? Or is it just Nancy leaning hard on Reyes to blow some smoke to give her some cover? Either way, this is just another off-message embarassment for the Obama team. Too bad.

Bill, Fairfax, VA (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:57 PM)

The gatekeepers at FR have barred me from posting for over a week now--typically they clamp down on me when I critique them--like when they throw Russia, the economy and Palin all into one article. Also I wrote a first person send-up of Kissinger's recent comments profiled in FR. So it's alright to criticize the CIA, for example, but satirizing a former aide to Nixon who counseled him to bomb and invade Cambodia secretly is off limits?

It's pretty frustrating when I see what 'Feisty Redhead' gets away with, not to mention 'Bad Chihuahua'. I didn't think I needed to worry about FR censoring non-obscene genuinely stated opinion.

Cub Reporter, Portland, ME (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:00 PM)

Please, please Mr. President: Come back home! Both houses of Congress and the White House have all lost their minds! What is next? I suspect fisticuffs unless a grown up appears pronto!

JJ Young, Cary, NC (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:15 PM)

Seems, on this one at least, NP needs no cover after all.

loueze (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:16 PM)

MSNBC please adhere to your own rules.

No doubt there will be an anti-Bush rant from Feisty, lead Barack cheerleder, who said:

- Until the party of Stale – Male & Pale get their heads out of their a@@es! Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 9:31 AM)
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MSNBC says vs MSNBC does:

"PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others."

Apparently the protections of “Politically Correct” speech only apply to a very select population. If you are Caucasian or heterosexual male or Christian, or even just a registered Republican, you are fair game for the vilest remarks from the Left.

There are plenty of derogatory names and jokes people could make about Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel but the gutless PC press would not repeat them even if you waterboarded their senior editor!

Respect is earned not given. Keep a civil tongue in your head Lefties.

St. Eleutherius of Nicomedia (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:16 PM)

Republicans = cowards
Truth hurts faux patriots. One place a republican has never been? A recruiters office.

bobf (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:21 PM)

WHAT?!?! The CIA lies?!?! Nancy was correct when she said the CIA isn't always truthful?!?!

All you righties need to take a step back before commenting on this. Think before you write. Remember, some of your own have said the same thing long before Nancy said it and, lo and behold, they are STILL lieing.

How's the crow taste?

Matthew, Houston, TX (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:33 PM)

Let the Repuke howling begin 3,2,1

Terry, Disabled Vet, Des Moines, IA (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:39 PM)

Bush lied innocent people died...this was the cia that worked for chickenhawk cheney so their lies are bush's lies too.

Rick, NC (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:47 PM)

Yesterdays news about Bush does not matter. People made their resentment known at the voting booth. Barack and Nancy are in charge now!

Today’s News (not last years news about Bush, but TODAYS news): July 8, 2009, unemployment is over 10% and the DJIA is below the point when Barack took the oath of office.

St. Eleutherius of Nicomedia (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:54 PM)

So let me get this sriaght....
A Repub can call the CIA liars but a Democrat can`t?
What a bunch of asses.

Repubs, just can`t get it stright....

Littleoldme (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 2:54 PM)

Pelosi lied, that is clear regardless of what they do now. If the CIA misled the House then provide specifics. How hard is it to mislead and confuse Congressmen who are willing to vote on bills they don'y even read? Maybe they need to use small words and limit information to a few sentences at a time so our Congress can comprehend the imformation.

Jim (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 3:22 PM)

come on FR team post the comments

BP, detroit, MI (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 3:22 PM)

Remember Reyes is the dolt who had no idea who the sunnis and shites were when he was named as intelligence commitee chairman. Pelosi just had to have him for the job. He is an embarrassment. If the CIA is lying to the congress because dems control this commitee it is because they don't trust democrats with information that endangers national security. If this is so its a sad state of affairs we have arrived at. However the dems near sedition during the height of the Iraq war showed their true colors.

Paul (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 3:34 PM)

Well well well Pelosi was telling the truth afterall. But then that's not suprising to me. It's only suprising to Republicans who want to cover up Bush's crimes.

Treena, NJ (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 4:01 PM)

how is it possible that you haven't posted any comments on this REVELATION?

PCR (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 4:08 PM)

A major problem related to intelligence matters is that we citizens have to trust our elected officials to perform proper oversight, which can't occur when the intelligence-ia stonewalls, lies, under and over-reports. When any agency or initiative is found to be lying and/or breaking the law, no one on the oversight committees can do anything about it because they have taken an oath of secrecy themselves.

This speaks to the torture problem as well. We need an Inspector General of Intelligence invested with the authority to bring charges against those in the intelligence community who act criminally and who can rule on progams, actions and initiatives that are over the line. Only the President should be able to overrule the IG but with the provision that legal arguments supporting the President's decision be filed with the FISA courts, the Attorney General and the Supreme Court, any of which can overturn the President's decision under seal. The seal can be broken when the President's term of office ends.

Reborn to Post, Boston, MA (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 4:09 PM)

WOW, all those negative comments about Nancy Pelosi from just a few short weeks ago. I wonder what will be said now? In fact, It is almost 4:00 and not one has posted on this blog, even though it was posted at 1:00 about. UMMMMMM, what does that say?

kathy, Eau Claire (Sent Wednesday, July 08, 2009 4:46 PM)

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