Feinstein: CIA May Have Violated Constitution With Monitoring Of Senate Staffers

Feinstein: CIA May Have Violated Constitution With Monitoring Of Senate Staffers

By Ali Watkins, Jonathan S. Landay and Marisa Taylor, McClatchy Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — The chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee threw down the gauntlet Tuesday morning in a feud unfolding between the CIA and its oversight panel, asserting that the agency may have broken the law in an effort to derail the panel’s report on the agency’s harsh detention and interrogation program.

In a stunning speech on the Senate floor, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., accused the agency of possibly violating the Constitution when it monitored her committee’s computers and sought a criminal investigation of committee staffers.

“The CIA’s search may well have violated the separation-of-powers principles embodied in the United States Constitution, including the speech and debate clause,” she said. “It may have undermined the constitutional framework essential to effective congressional oversight of intelligence activities.”

Feinstein fiercely defended the staff’s actions throughout the course of the report’s creation, saying that the staff removed a classified internal CIA report from a secure CIA facility because it was necessary to fulfill the panel’s oversight responsibilities. She said when the staffers printed out the documents and took them to the Capitol, they did not break the law, as the CIA contends.

Feinstein also asked the other senators to support the committee in declassifying parts of the report, despite the CIA’s resistance to doing so.

“The recent actions that I have just laid out make this a defining moment for the oversight of our intelligence community,” Feinstein said. “I believe it is critical that the committee and the Senate reaffirm our oversight role and our independence under the Constitution of the United States.”

Speaking at a separate public event, CIA Director John Brennan denied Feinstein’s charges and said he would act if the CIA, the committee staff or he personally were found to have done anything improper.

AFP Photo/Mark Wilson

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

Joe Biden
President Joe Biden

Last week,The Economist's presidential polling average set in motion a reevaluation of the general election when President Joe Biden pulled ahead of Donald Trump for the first time since September 2023.

Keep reading...Show less
Alex Jones

Alex Jones

At a press conference on Tuesday, March 26, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told reporters that there was no sign of terrorism or foul play in the collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge — which had been struck by a freighter. According to Moore and the Biden White House, there was no indication that it was anything other than a tragic accident.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}