Firing Back(wards)
Day 93
April 22, 2009
"It won't surprise you that I don't consider him a particularly reliable source."
—Hillary Clinton, Secretary of State, in testimony on the Hill, after being asked about former Vice President Dick Cheney's request to declassify documents he claims show the "success" of harsh interrogation techniques
"My concern is not about me. My concern is whether there have been widespread abuses [that] may impact the members of Congress but, more importantly, may impact a broad cross section of the American public who don't have the bully pulpit that I do."
—Jane Harman, Democratic Representative from California, on reports that she was wiretapped by the National Security Agency
Earth Day doesn't prove very sunny for the White House. Hillary Clinton offers the sharpest rhetoric yet within the Obama Administration in response to the former Vice President's criticism of the President's decision to release some interrogation memos. The Secretary of State stands her ground in her testimony on the Hill, her first since becoming a Cabinet member, as House Republicans try to pummel her with questions about the release of the memos.
Meanwhile, Representative Jane Harman spends a second day decrying news stories that she was caught on tape reportedly offering to do favors for pro-Israel lobbyists under investigation for espionage. The California Democrat tries to turn the tables on the NSA, which reports say wiretapped her in 2005 or 2006, by railing about the excesses of domestic eavesdropping under the Bush Administration.