Hoekstra hits back at Dem Senators

Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) on Sunday lashed out at two Democratic senators who tried to use the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee as a new talking point.

Democrats struggling to cover for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and her conflict with the Central Intelligence Agency have seized on a conflict Hoekstra had with the CIA in 2006.

{mosads}Back then, Hoekstra cited a report from the agency’s Inspector General, a report that concluded the CIA lied to Congress and federal officials in the downing of a plane in Peru in 2001. The plane held missionaries from Michigan; a woman and her infant daughter were killed in the crash.

The report found the CIA did not follow the rules of engagement and operated outside standard procedures. Later, the agency lied about their involvement.

Over the weekend, Hoekstra’s harsh criticism of the agency emerged as a new Democratic rallying point.

“[Pelosi] said, yes, they misled. But let me tell you who out and out said that they lied. Peter Hoekstra, a Republican, who was the head of the Intelligence Committee,” Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said on CNN’s State of the Union. “So this is so political. It’s really, to me, you know, just knowing all the players, it’s clear what it’s about. They want to get Nancy Pelosi.”

“Right now you’ve got questions about whether or not you’re getting accurate information from the CIA. Former Speaker Gingrich said back in ’07 that the National Intelligence — the NIE was not workable, was not good, it was full of misinformation. And then you had Peter Hoekstra, Rep. Hoekstra, saying he got lied to,” Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) said on Fox News Sunday. “I think we need to get our intelligence at the best level that we can and stop the focus quite so much on enhanced techniques.”

Later Sunday, Hoekstra made clear he had no interest in becoming a Democratic talking point.

“It is unfortunate that Democrats have chosen to distort for political gain a tragic incident that led to the deaths of an innocent seven-month-old American girl and her mother,” he said in a statement.

“There is a night-and-day difference between my response to the inspector general’s report and Speaker Pelosi making the politically motivated charge that the CIA lies to Congress ‘all the time,’” Hoekstra added. “There is also a night-and-day difference between my response to the inspector general’s report and Speaker Pelosi’s assertion that she could do nothing after she was told of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program.”

Hoekstra has called for Pelosi to prove she was lied to, and for the CIA to release documents relating to lawmaker briefings.

“I am willing to compare my record of oversight on the tragic Peru incident to Speaker Pelosi’s record of inaction any time. After several failed attempts to avoid accountability, the Speaker now acknowledges she was told of the CIA’s enhanced interrogation program, including waterboarding,” Hoekstra said. “For more than 6 years, the Speaker chose to do nothing, she couldn’t even be bothered to write her own letter. That is her responsibility, and her responsibility alone, not mine nor the CIA’s.”