Issa asks FBI to investigate Pelosi claims

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) asked FBI Director Robert Mueller today to investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) claims that the CIA lied to her about the use of waterboarding on detainees in 2002.

“The Speaker of the House has leveled a very serious charge that calls into the question the credibility of the intelligence briefings members of Congress receive,” Issa told Mueller at a committee hearing today. “Speaker Pelosi has served in the Congress for more than twenty years and is a former member of the Intelligence Committee–she is charging that the integrity of the information members of Congress receive from intelligence agencies is compromised and the FBI should immediately launch an investigation so we can get the truth.”

Issa’s comments are likely an attempt to keep the speaker on the defensive. Republicans have been blasting Pelosi, accusing her of feigning naivete about enhanced interrogation techniques.

Pelosi has said the CIA regularly misleads members of Congress during classified briefings. While the CIA says it told Pelosi that waterboarding was being used on detainees during a 2002 briefing, Pelosi says the briefing included information only on the technique’s legality, not its use.