The top Republican on the Senate’s Intelligence Committee on Wednesday broke away from Dianne Feinstein’s allegations that the CIA interfered in an investigation, instead urging the Senate not to jump to conclusions.
“People speak as though we know all of the pertinent facts surrounding this matter. The truth is, we do not,” said Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
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Chambliss said he cannot confirm or deny Feinstein’s assertions that the Central Intelligence Agency is attempting to thwart the release of a Senate report on Bush-era interrogation policies, nor can he comment on whether Intelligence Committee staffers inappropriately seized an internal CIA report. He said forensics have not been run on computers to determine precisely what happened and that no one has established precisely how the committee ended up with an internal policy review.
The retiring Georgia Republican preached patience and said that ultimately an independent review may be necessary, echoing the suggestions of some of his Republican colleagues.
“Both of these matters have been now referred to the Department of Justice. It may take us awhile before any accurate factual findings can be reached,” Chambliss said. “It may even call for some special investigator to be named to review the entire factual situation. Eventually, we will get to the bottom of this. But today I cannot make a statement that will reflect what actually occurred.”
Chambliss said he “reluctantly” took the Senate floor Wednesday evening to urge that the Intel committee’s internal dealings remain within the committee. He also disassociated the committee’s GOP members from the interrogation report that the panel has been working on for years and may vote to declassify by the end of March.
“The Republican Committee members on the Senate Intelligence Committee and staff were not involved in the underlying investigation of the detainee and interrogation report,” he said.
Feinstein’s bombshell accusations shook the Senate on Tuesday and immediately drew skepticism from Republicans, though the California senator is standing by her assertions that the CIA may have been trying to “intimidate” her committee’s investigation in a way that may have violated the Constitution.
Chambliss’s remarks on Wednesday only serve to underscore new partisan divisions this week that have overtaken a Senate panel known to still function in a bipartisan manner despite increased partisanship in Congress.
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