Pelosi isn’t lying, says biographer

The folks over at Calbuzz have an interesting post from Marc Sandalow, a biographer of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), that argues that she was not lying when she said the CIA misled her about the use of waterboarding.

The whole post is worth a read, but his four points boil down to the following four points:

1. Pelosi is very close with CIA Director Leon Panetta so Panetta would hang her out to dry. Panetta’s statement last Friday does not say, Sandalow notes, that Pelosi was lying. And if the CIA did have documents that contradicted Pelosi, Sandalow believes Panetta would have told Pelosi about them.

2. Pelosi’s story is backed up by other Democrats, such as former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who is known for his meticulous journal keeping.

3. Pelosi’s behavior followed protocol.

4. Most directly, Pelosi is not a liar. Sandalow says he has known several politicians that have no problem lying right to his face (don’t we all?), but Pelosi isn’t one of them.

(H/T Cillizza)

jeremy.jacobs@digital-staging.thehill.com