GOP Rep.: House Dems Need Babysitter
"[Republicans are] just kind of sitting on the sidelines. We're trying to focus on national security policy, national security issues, and the Democrats, from my perspective, are looking for some adult supervision. There's no leadership here at all. … This is very, very bizarre," Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra said on CBS' "The Early Show" Thursday.
Back in May, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the CIA of lying to her about the use of waterboarding as an interrogation technique during briefings in 2002.
Panetta responded saying it was not CIA policy to mislead Congress, but in recent letters Democrats allege Panetta told lawmakers last month that the agency had in fact concealed information repeatedly since 2001.
Republicans have said those letters, along with threats from President Obama to veto an upcoming intelligence bill, are calculated to give Pelosi political cover on whether she knew of waterboarding back in 2002.
"It's very strange. They sent that letter on stationery making sure that letter was available to the press but also making sure we on the Republican side didn't get the letter," Hoekstra told "Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith.
"Also the letter that [Rep.] Sylvestre Reyes sent to Leon Panetta was slipped under my door after hours and it was given to the media well before we ever received it. So to me, it looks like they're working on the political equation. They're not trying to foster a bipartisan consensus on national security."
Hoekstra added that while he has also been misled during CIA briefings, the agency usually provides enough information to lawmakers for oversight.
"What you will find is by and large in the vast majority of cases, when we are briefed by the CIA, we get the information that we need to do the job. Sometimes it's difficult to pull that information out of them, but if Congress does its job, I think we can get the information that we need."