Ex-Senator Graham: Cheney, CIA Lied to Congress About Domestic Spying

By GottaLaff

Jason Leopold is reviving some of his reporting to show the parallels between Then and Now. One day, hopefully soon, this will explode in BushCo's faces:

In an interview with ABC's "Nightline" on Dec. 15, 2005 - after the New York Times disclosed the existence of the warrantless wiretapping program - Graham said he attended meetings in Vice President Dick Cheney's office and discussed surveillance activities, but added that neither Cheney nor then-National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden spoke about a plan to spy on Americans. (CIA Director George Tenet also took part in the meeting.)

"The issue was whether we could intercept foreign communications when they transited through U.S. communication sites," Graham said. "The assumption was that if we did that, we would do it pursuant to the law, the law that regulates the surveillance of national security issues. ...

"There was no suggestion that we were going to begin eavesdropping on United States citizens without following the full law. There was no reference made to the fact that we were going to use that as the subterfuge to begin unwarranted, illegal - and I think unconstitutional - eavesdropping on American citizens."

Graham suggested that Cheney and the intelligence officials had lied to him and other members of congressional intelligence panels.

Cheney and other Bush administration officials - aided by Republican lawmakers - responded to Graham's comments with a fierce counterattack, much like they are doing now against Pelosi. In another "Nightline" interview on Dec. 18, 2005, Cheney said Graham, as well as other members of Congress knew that the administration intended to spy on the phone calls of some Americans.

"He knew," Cheney said. "I sat in my office with Gen. Hayden, who was then the head of NSA, who's now the deputy director of the National Intelligence Directorate, and he [Graham] was briefed as long as he was chairman of the committee, or ranking member of the committee." [...]

Graham said he did attend briefings on the two other dates but he told the Washington Post "there was no discussion of anything [about spying on Americans' telephone calls] in the meeting with Cheney." [...]

The dispute then is nearly identical to the one now playing out in Congress about a similar document cited by the CIA supposedly showing top Democrats receiving briefings about the Bush administration's torture program.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

H/t: The Joshua Blog

Richard Shelby does balancing act

By GottaLaff

Oh come on, why bother with the coyness when it's so much easier to just blame Nance:

GOP Senator Richard Shelby, who was briefed along with Bob Graham on interrogations not long after Nancy Pelosi, has now weighed in on what he was told.

Shelby is walking a very delicate balancing act. While he’s contradicting Graham’s claim that torture techniques weren’t discussed, Shelby also stops short of saying he was told torture techniques were actually used — a distinction central to the current political war.

Shelby was briefed with Graham on September 27th 2002, about three weeks after Pelosi. Shelby’s spokesperson has now described the briefing to The Hill:

“As Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in 2002, Senator Shelby was briefed by the CIA on the Agency’s interrogation program and the existence of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs). To his recollection, not only did the CIA briefers provide what was purported to be a full account of the techniques, they also described the need for these techniques and the value of the information being obtained from terrorists during questioning. The Senate briefing also included an explanation of how these techniques were consistent with the law and with the national security interests of the U.S. To his recollection, while there was a great deal of discussion, there were no objections raised during the Senate briefing he attended.”

This is very carefully worded. It says Shelby was told about the “existence” of the techniques and given a “full account” of their existence. This doesn’t address whether they were used. He was also told about the “value of the information being obtained from terrorists during questioning,” but the statement conspicuously doesn’t say the info was obtained through the use of the techniques.

My post of the video of Bob Graham's statements here.

But this from Mark Knoller of CBS, via Twitter:

without mentioning Pelosi by name, CIA Dir. Leon Panetta denies her charge that CIA lied about not waterboarding in 2002.

Now what? We need hearings. Now.

VIDEO-- Former Sen. Bob Graham Discusses the Accuracy of C.I.A. Account of Torture Briefing

By GottaLaff



Bob Graham confirms Nancy Pelosi's version of events:

"They're [the CIA] obligated to tell the full intelligence committee, not just leadership..."

"They were discussing the fact that ... they were interrogating detainees, but nothing such as they were using these extreme torture techniques, that would have made it a surprising briefing."

"The notebooks played another role in this. ... the CIA gave me 4 dates... I went back to my spiral notebooks... in 3 of those 4 dates there was no briefing held..."

"Under the rules...I was prohibited from keeping notes of what was actually said during that briefing..."

"The CIA.. responds to directions from higher authorities..."

Bob Graham agrees with Pelosi

By GottaLaff

I just heard on the Thom Hartmann show that Bob Graham has come out in agreement with Nancy Pelosi that the CIA lied to them.

Here is a link to more from Emptywheel.

Bob Graham: I Wasn’t Told About Waterboarding Or EITs In My Briefing

Remember, Bob Graham is the man that has taken notes every day of his life for a bazillion years. Via Greg Sargent, who by the way, is doing an incredible job following up on the duh questions in these stories.

Former Senator Bob Graham, who received a classified briefing on terror detainees during the same month in the fall of 2002 as Nancy Pelosi, was not briefed about the use of either waterboarding or enhanced interrogation techniques during the meeting, he claimed in an interview with me.

Graham’s assertion — his first public comments since the release of the intelligence document detailing torture briefings given to members of Congress — directly contradicts the document’s claim that he had been briefed on enhanced interrogation techniques, or EITs. Graham is now the second Dem official to deny on the record the document’s contents and raises questions about its claim that Pelosi had been told, which she has denied.

“I do not have any recollection of being briefed on waterboarding or other forms of extraordinary interrogation techniques, or Abu Zubaydah being subjected to them,” Graham told me by phone moments ago, in a reference to the terror suspect who had been repeatedly waterboarded the month before.

Graham is the only other Dem aside from Pelosi to get briefed in 2002, so they are both in effect asserting that no Dem was briefed on the use of EITs that year. The date of the next briefing was in February 2003.

"Veepstakes"

By Paddy


Okay, we haven't done one of these, so I'm gonna throw out the first ball.

Right now, I'm leaning towards Bob Graham. I hadn't thought of him until someone mentioned him over at Cesca's place. Here's my thoughts- He has huge foreign policy cred, voted against the war, is beloved in Florida and he's old. The old part falls in that he could serve either one or two terms as veep, and then not choose to run in '16, leaving the opening for HRC.

Added- fun vid I saw over at TRex's place.