All Blog Posts from Political Hotsheet

Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer Sunday that nobody in America, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, is "above the law."

Leahy was responding to a report in the New York Times that Cheney ordered the Central Intelligence Agency to withhold information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress.

"If, as the New York Times says, we have the vice president of the United States telling people to break the law, now that's a pretty serious matter," Leahy said on CBS' "Face The Nation." "Either he did, or he didn't. If he did, that's something we ought to know."

He said finding out what happened is important because "usually if something is done wrong by one [administration] and it's exposed, the next one tends to behave themselves."

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Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions said Sunday that he believes it is not necessary to appoint a special criminal prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's interrogation policies.

Though President Obama has spoken against such an investigation, Attorney General Eric Holder is reportedly seriously considering making the appointment.

"We've had probably in my committees, Judiciary and Armed Services, thirty or more hearings on this," Sessions told CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Bob Schieffer on "Face the Nation". "The Intelligence Committee has had great numbers of hearings and written reports on it. The military has done a series of independent reports. And I believe that that's sufficient. I don't believe a special commission is necessary.

"We were facing some real challenges, and our people tried to do the best they could," explained Sessions. "And I don't think I see the evidence yet to justify any prosecutions."

Vermont's Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy told Schieffer that while he prefers a commission of inquiry, he is "not going to interfere with a special prosecutor."

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Two leading senators on the Senate Finance Committee, which is expected to begin marking up health care legislation next week, said a bipartisan agreement is possible by the Congress' summer recess, though neither seemed to be letting up their arguments on "Face the Nation" Sunday.

As ranking Republican on the committee, Senator Charles Grassley of Iowa (left) has been an opponent of a government-funded health care option.

"I am going to make sure we are not going to nationalize health insurance, and a public plan is the first step to doing that," Grassley told guest moderator John Dickerson Sunday.

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Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said a U.S. strike on Iran would be "very destabilizing," as would a nuclear Iran, during an assessment of American foreign policy in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Russia on "Face the Nation" Sunday.

The top military commander said America has "a very narrow window" of appropriate actions in the defiant country.

On the U.S.'s counterinsurgency strike in southern Afghanistan last week, Mullen said, "I'm comfortable with the strategy." He said the mission, which is largely focused on security for Afghanis, will include some of the "toughest fighting" the country has seen.

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Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he agrees with Vice President Joe Biden that taxing employer-based health insurance is not a good remedy for the health care crisis.

"Max Baucus has a tough assignment," Durbin said of the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, who is proposing such a option.

As for voting for a plan which includes a tax on existing benefits, Durbin said, "It would not be easy for me to do."

When asked by Face The Nation host Bob Schieffer about the perils of proposing taxes, Durbin said, "Keep in mind that everyone today faces a hidden tax" in health insurance premiums which Americans absorb to cover the uninsured.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell called the Guantanamo Bay detainment facility a "perfect place" for keeping terrorists, crediting the military prison with having protected America from another attack following 9/11.

He characterized President Obama's efforts to close the facility as a bid to make the United States "more popular" in Europe, and criticized the president's "arbitrary deadline" for shutting it down.

"I don't think this is a problem that needs fixing," McConnell said on Face The Nation, arguing that other countries seem hesitant to house detainees, and bringing them onto American soil would open a whole other can of worms.

"If you bring them into this country and try them, then presumably they are going to be given the protections of the Bill of Rights," McConnell said.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Barack Obama's plan to include government-backed health insurance for the public is a "non-starter" for most Republicans considering health care reform.

Appearing on CBS' Face The Nation Sunday, McConnell told host Bob Schieffer that Mr. Obama's plan for a government health insurance plan would essentially crowd out other insurers from the private market, eliminating competition.

"We can make incredible improvements in American health care, but I don't think having more government — in effect putting Washington between you and your doctor — is the way to go."

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In response to suggestions that some Guantanamo detainees may not be tried and sentenced to death in order to deny them the chance of becoming martyrs to their cause, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said, "Someone who is desperate to be a martyr" will probably succeed.

"If we let them go, they'll go back to obtaining martyrdom by being suicide bombers," he said on CBS' Face The Nation Sunday.

When asked by guest host Harry Smith who is the most "Republican" — Dick Cheney, Sarah Palin, Colin Powell, Rush Limbaugh or himself — Gingrich said, "All of us are."

"Colin Powell is a great American. I'm proud to be a Republican. Dick Cheney is a great American. I'm glad both of them are Republicans," Gingrich said, referencing a debate between the two leaders born on Face The Nation.

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When Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich blasted President Obama's Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor for being a racist on Twitter, he ignited a debate over her objectivity.

Speaking to Face the Nation guest moderator Harry Smith Sunday, senior White House advisor David Axelrod defended Sotomayor against charges that she is a racist.

"I think what she believes, Harry, is that everyone is the product of their experiences. She's the product of hers."

Axelrod called Gingrich's comment "unfortunate" and said, "I think that it is so unfair and so unreflective of who she is."

Later in the program, Gingrich said he wished to "reframe" his initial comment calling Sotomayor a racist, when really he does not know the nominee and meant that her words were racist.

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Senior White House advisor David Axelrod said that should Guantanamo detainees be allowed to plead guilty, avoid trial and possibly receive the death sentence, as The New York Times reported Saturday, there are concerns the U.S. would be allowing criminals to "martyr themselves."

Appearing on CBS News' Face The Nation Sunday, Axelrod said "grave concerns" had been raised about such a possibility, and that because discussions at the White House are still ongoing, President Obama has not made a decision on the matter.

Axelrod was also asked about President Obama's speech in Cairo last week and his call for Israel to stop settlement building in Gaza. He said he was happy with the foreign reaction.

"One of the most heartening things about the speech was the kind of reaction that it got across the region, from Arab leaders, from Israeli President Shimon Peres and others in Israel," he said.

Guest moderator Harry Smith noted that Israeli prime minister Bibi Netanyahu did not support a halt to settlements, and Axelrod admitted that the peace process is "difficult."

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