Intelligence panel Dems huddle with Pelosi

Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee huddled with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Tuesday night as Republicans turned up the pressure about whether Democrats had objected in 2002 to interrogation policies they deem illegal.

{mosads}But committee members said their meeting was about improving the nation’s intelligence gathering, not responding to Republicans.

“The focus is about how we make the policies going forward, not about who’s doing better on MSNBC,” said Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-Pa.).

The meeting, which included at least 10 of the 13 Democratic members of the committee, was held in the Speaker’s ceremonial office just off the House floor.

Pelosi and Democrats have been on the defensive in the wake of disclosures of Bush administration memos in support of  “enhanced interrogation methods” that Democrats consider torture, which is illegal

Republicans have hammered Pelosi and Democrats for demanding investigations into Bush administration interrogation polices after failing to raise objections seven years ago when she was first briefed about the policies.

Rep. Pete Hoesktra (R-Mich.), former chairman of the committee and now the panel’s ranking member, said 10 days have passed since he asked Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair to produce memos and notes from intelligence briefings with Pelosi and Democrats.

Hoesktra said he spoke to Blair again Tuesday and asked him when the Obama administration’s intelligence chiefs were going to respond to his request. The Michigan Republican, who is running for governor, also said Republicans have received memos from former intelligence officials about which Democrats were briefed and how many times that were different than what Obama administration officials have released so far.

“The briefings were relatively frequent and all very detailed,” Hoekstra said. “There shouldn’t be any variation in what the Democrats are saying.”

Intelligence Committee Democrats emerging from the meeting were tight-lipped, although Rep. John Tierney (D-Mass.) was clearly annoyed with Hoekstra’s recent comments.

“This is about doing our job as the Intelligence Committee,” Tierney said. “Mr. Hoekstra can cross any lines that he wants. He can politicize national security if he wants to.”

When asked if he thought Hoekstra’s gubernatorial race was motivating him to attack Pelosi’s record on the Bush administration’s interrogation policies, Tierney said only: “It’s interesting you would mention that.”

After leaving the meeting, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) joked that Democrats were discussing their “holiday party plans” but would discuss nothing more.

Fellow California Democrat Adam Schiff said “our conversations are going to continue.”