Pelosi: I'm Not Talking About CIA Anymore

Cites agency's 'very bad record' on honesty, chides GOP for 'games'

(NEWSER) - Arlen Specter defended Nancy Pelosi today against the CIA and former GOP colleagues he says are making a “political game” out of the interrogation debacle. “The CIA has a very bad record when it comes to honesty,” the Senate’s newest Democrat said. Specter charged that the agency repeatedly failed to inform him when he was chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Politico reports. More»

(NEWSER) - The CIA debacle engulfing Nancy Pelosi stems from two key mistakes on the part of the House speaker, Jay Newton-Small writes in Time. Pelosi’s dangerous belief that media training is “a waste of her time” was demonstrated when she walked away from her own press conference on the subject of interrogation briefings. Her other mistake—or character flaw—is reacting rashly in unanticipated situations. More»

Points way to door over CIA comments

(NEWSER) - Newt Gingrich “essentially” called for Nancy Pelosi’s resignation as House speaker last night in a chat with Jon Stewart, Gawker reports. "She either should prove her allegation” that the CIA regularly misleads Congress, or “I think she's done a huge disservice,” the former speaker said on The Daily Show. “To have a person who would lie about everybody in the intelligence community” as speaker is “utterly irrational,” Gingrich said. More»

Speaker 'not in any trouble' as loyal caucus backs her in CIA ruckus

(NEWSER) - Republicans have all but slapped a bulls-eye on Nancy Pelosi over what she knew about CIA interrogation practices, but as the Washington Post reports, House Democrats have rallied behind the speaker. In a sign of the considerable unity of the party caucus, several leading Democrats said yesterday that they believe the CIA misled Pelosi, while others questioned the agency's recordkeeping. Steny Hoyer, once a rival of Pelosi's, said that the current uproar was "a political tactic" by the GOP to distract from the issue of torture. More»

Kristol: Why else would CIA boss 'humiliate' his party's speaker?

(NEWSER) - After Nancy Pelosi suggested the CIA had misled Congress, the agency’s director fired back with a letter denying the claim. But the idea that Leon Panetta would send a letter “humiliating a House speaker of his own party” entirely of his own accord seems “almost inconceivable,” writes William Kristol in the Washington Post. Perhaps he “ran it by” Rahm Emanuel—begging the question: “Does Emanuel (and, presumably, President Obama) want a chastened Pelosi to remain speaker?” More»