House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (Calif.) assertion at a press conference this morning that the Bush administration and the Central Intelligence Agency misled her and the Congress regarding the treatment of suspected terrorists adds further fuel to the fire on an issue that has been on a low boil for weeks.
Asked whether she was accusing the CIA of lying to her during a 2002 briefing on the use of so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques," Pelosi said: "Yes, misleading the Congress of the United States, misleading the Congress of the United States. I am."
She went on to call on the CIA to release the details of briefings they provided to Congress and for the creation of a truth commission to "determine how intelligence was misused and how controversial and possibly illegal activities like torture were authorized within the executive branch."
Pelosi's press conference comes amid a series of allegations from Republicans -- inside and outside of Congress -- that she knew far more about the treatment of detainees in the early part of the decade than she initially let on.
"The Speaker has had way too many stories on this issue," said House Minority Leader John Boehner (Ohio) at a press conference moments ago. He added that he has "not one doubt" that interrogations of detainees were conducted "within the law" and that he was opposed to the idea of a truth commission.
As the Post's Paul Kane notes, Pelosi acknowledged publicly for the first time today that she was aware that detainees were being waterboarded as long ago as 2003 when a member of her staff was part of a briefing in February of that year in which it was revealed that waterboarding was ongoing.
Pelosi's press conference has both short term and long term political impact.
In the short term, it snuffs out President Obama's preferred message of the day -- pushed at a scheduled town hall today in New Mexico -- regarding credit card reform. Obama and/or White House press secretary Robert Gibbs are certain to face questions about Pelosi's remarks whenever reporters are given access to them today.
Pelosi's comments -- and the firestorm they will almost certainly set off -- could speed up the timetable for an announcement of Obama's Supreme Court nominee, which has been speculated as coming either next week or shortly after Memorial Day. If the torture debate dominates the news for the next several days, the White House may want (or need) a way the change the subject and the announcement of a Supreme Court justice would almost certainly provide the necessary distraction.
The long-term political prognosis is less clear. The Obama administration has made no secret of the fact that they would prefer not to spend time looking back at what happened under President George W. Bush since it distracts from what they believe to be the important tasks at hand -- most notably turning around the economy.
And, it's hard to imagine that the White House is pleased with Pelosi's press conference today -- knowing that the allegations she has made further complicate an already sticky political entanglement, making it far more difficult for the issue to be dismissed out of a desire to look forward rather than backward.
Pelosi's comments are also -- almost certainly -- not her last words on this subject. As indicated by Boehner's comments, Republicans are going to continue to paint Pelosi as telling a series of conflicting stories about what she knew and when she knew it.
While Pelosi's press conference this morning was clearly intended to put to rest a process story that all politicians hate, it may well have the opposite effect -- raising more questions about her timeline and her past statements.
Make no mistake: Pelosi would not have held this sort of press conference unless she and her inner circle believed that she was losing altitude -- politically -- on the issue. But, her decision to do so could have wide-ranging political implications that will reach from Congress to the White House and back.
9 comments:
This reminds me of The West Wing...which is a tv show...I guess that could be both a good and bad thing... It sounds like Pelosi was worried about herself and her image and therefore kinda threw Obama and his administration under the bus, but I suppose that is politics for you. As I've said before, I support Obama in trying to move forward instead of dwelling on past mistakes, but I agree with the article- that is pretty impossible now. People are going to want answers, especially since Pelosi's credibility is being questioned, and his "not looking back" approach could begin to be seen as a disinterested/dishonest approach. I am interested to see what Obama's next move will be and whether Pelosi has ultimately saved her reputation or just made things worse.
I believe that Pelosi is going to lose alot of face for the rather flimsy story she is pitching. She says she didn't know of the "illegal" activities though former information maintains that she did. I think by lying about how much she knew Nancy Pelosi is hurting her credibility and status much more than if she just admitted she had known. Also on the topic of Obama not looking back on the Bush administration, that couldn not be much more untrue. Obama has made a point of telling everyone he is not like Bush, like on his world apology tour, and has tried to pull a 180 on everything Bush did.
It just seems like pelosi just cares about herself and her image so Obamas administration was just screwed. And I think their whole administration is under alot of pressure now and with alot of people questioning pelosi just makes it worse.
There is only one thing bothering me. I understand how nancy pelosi didn't know about the torturing but the CIA? Central INTELLIGENCE Agency they know everything. how would they not know about this.
I honestly think that if I was President Obama right now, I'd be hating my open doors policy where I'd promised the people of the U.S. that they would know whatever truths they wanted to know. He's about to have Hell in a handbasket now that Pelosi has opened her big mouth. I doubt that Pelosi is truly going to revive her status and image after the stunt she's just pulled.
it seems to me that MRS.Pelosi is gonna lose alot of credibility for the polayed out story shes trying to tell. She trying to say she didn't know of the illegal
activities when the past information is indicating that she did. how bumb. If she would have just told the truth she could have saved her status and image. i think Obama is going to do great things for our country and has made it clear to everyone he is not like President Bush.
Pelosi is definitely causing Obama to lose a lot of credibility as a Democratic figurehead. She is just denying that she knew about this to avoid political problems. All she has is her title..she has no credibility at this point.
She lied to the government. that sghould not be overlooked. She knew the whole time. There should be consquenses. She was called out she nedds to stop trying to save her butt and admit face the fact that what she did was wrong
I think that Nancy Pelosi's comments are a bit unreasonable...really? Being the Speaker of the House I would think that she would have been more informed about terror interrogation techniques than she has let on.
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