The Campaign Spot

Wyden, Quick to Shift Blame Back to the Bush Administration

This isn’t a word-for-word transcript, but in beginning an interview with Sen. Ron Wyden (D., Ore.), Andrea Mitchell said that Pelosi’s accusations “raise troubling questions about the honesty of the CIA.”

Sen. Ron Wyden on MSNBC: “I can’t speculate on what Pelosi was told at that time . . . What I can say is there is a 1947 law that says the CIA must keep all members of the intelligence committee up to speed on current activities, and time and again, the Bush administration didn’t follow that law. . . . Members were kept in the dark for years and years on end.”

Notice that Wyden is quick to blame “the Bush administration,” not the CIA.

UPDATE: Got the transcript:

SENATOR RON WYDEN: “I can’t speculate on what Nancy Pelosi was told at that time. What I can tell you is there is a 1947 law that says all the members of the Intelligence Committee must be kept currently and fully informed and the Bush administration consistently didn’t comply with that law so when I finally was told late in 2006, I and Senator Feinstein and Senator Hagel wrote a classified letter making it very clear that we objected to what was going on and I hope we will be able to get that classified letter declassified very quickly . . . Andrea, because I and most members of the committee were not fully and currently informed for years and years, nobody can really speculate about the kinds of questions you’re talking about.”

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