Feinstein urges White House to release full CIA torture report

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) is urging the White House to declassify the Intelligence Committee’s full report on how the CIA detained and interrogated terror suspects.

“Last night I handed a letter to [Vice President] Joe Biden to give to the president — to make sure he got my original letter,” Feinstein told reporters Tuesday.

{mosads}The letter, she said, is a call to make public the entire 7,000-page document. It is identical to a letter sent directly to President Obama last week, according to an aide. 

The California Democrat chaired the Intelligence panel that produced the 2014 report. Now known as the “torture report,” the study found many of the CIA’s practices were overly brutal and possibly illegal.

Two years ago, Feinstein campaigned fiercely against the White House and the spy agency to make public the 500-page summary of the report’s findings. Now, following the election of Donald Trump, who campaigned on the reinstitution of waterboarding, she is pushing for the release of the entire document.

“The issue has been raised; it’s been raised by the president-elect. It’s time to address it,” she said. “The time has come to declassify the report, allow the general public to make up its own mind. At least those that’ll read 7,000 pages.”

His pick for the director of the CIA, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kansas), has criticized Feinstein for the release of the executive summary, arguing that it “put American lives at risk.”

“It is hard to imagine a sound reason that Sen. Feinstein would put American operators and their families at risk by demanding the release of details that are not in any way related to the legality or appropriateness of the programs,” Pompeo said at the time.

“The programs being used were within the law, within the Constitution, and conducted with the full knowledge of Sen. Feinstein. If any individual did operate outside of the program’s legal framework, I would expect them to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” 

Feinstein pushed back on his assertion and has argued repeatedly that the report shows not only the unconstitutionality but also the ineffectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques (EITs).