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Harry Reid: I Was Briefed on Spy Program (admits after being pushed)
An uncomfortable Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid admitted on Sunday that he was briefed on the Bush administration's decision to have the NSA monitor domestic communications in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, as reported in the New York Times on Friday."I was briefed a couple of months ago," the testy-sounding Democrat told "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, after complaining: "Listen - the program has been in effect - it's been in effect for four years now." Reid's admission came only after Wallace pressed him twice about President Bush's claim yesterday that congressional leaders had been briefed on the program. Asked the first time Reid dodged the question, saying: "[The president] can't pass the buck on this one. This was his program. He's commander in chief. But the commander in chief does not, I think, trump the Bill of Rights." After Reid finally admitted that he knew about the domestic surveillance program, he again tried to shift blame to the White House, saying: "This is something that's [the responsibility of] the president and the vice president and there's no way he can pass the buck." The top Democrat declined to explain why he didn't raise objections when he was first briefed on the spy program that suddenly has Democrats and the media up in arms. Posted by: Captain America 2005-12-18 |
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