Great moments in Senate Integrity . . .
Frist and Hastert Demand Investigation of Leak to Washington Post re: CIA "Black Prisons"
In the wake of the disclosure, the top Republican Congressional leaders - Speaker Denny Hastert and the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist, sent the chairmen of the Intelligence Committees a request Tuesday for a joint investigation into the origin of the article.
"If accurate," the letter said, "such an egregious disclosure could have long-term and far-reaching damaging and dangerous consequences and will imperil our efforts to protect the American people and our homeland from terrorist attacks."
THEN . . .
Trent Lott Says It's Probably a GOP Senator Who did the Leaking
Almost immediately, senator Trent Lott, of Mississippi, (who you will remember was deposed as senate leader by Rove and replaced by Frist) informed CNN that the leak most probably came from a republican senator, as "Every word that was said in there went right to the newspaper," he said. "We can't keep our mouths shut." Lott also reportedly said "We can not remain silent. We have met the enemy, and it is us."
NOW . . .
Sen. Roberts says that the investigation is not such a great idea
The chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence told Senate leaders yesterday that Congress should hold off on a probe of the disclosure of classified information on secret prisons to The Washington Post until the Justice Department completes its own inquiry.
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) said he will "respectfully" request that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) back off a strongly worded request that a bicameral investigation into the disclosure be convened immediately.
AND . . .
Frist signals that he will likely accept Roberts' suggestion
Frist spokeswoman Amy Call said the majority leader had not decided how to respond. "He always takes what his chairmen say into consideration," she said.
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Seriously, what has happened to them? They never used to be this transparent. Is it really all due to Bill Frist's buffoonery, unsupervised by a distracted Karl Rove, or are they all just starting to turn on each other?
You mean Frist and Hastert were really only interested in going tit-for-tat on Plame, not in uncovering the leaker here? What a shock. They are starting to resemble the Bad News Bears.
ReplyDeleteBill Frist hasn't said he is backing down so you can't say he has. And Roberts isn't saying that there should be no investigation, just that Congress shouldn't do it.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, for days all I heard was Republicans asking why Democrats weren't as concerned about the CIA site leaks as they were about Plame. Democrats were being called party hypocrites. Then, Frist and Hastert announce their request for an inquiry and immediately Lott states the leak probably came from a Republican, and all of a sudden there's no more call from Republican pundits or Congressman for the investigation.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Roberts is also saying we don't need Phase II of the investigation of the intelligence leading up to the decision to invade Iraq. His credibility regarding impartiality is a bit worn right now so he's probably not the best person to hold up as a fine example.