imminent. >> reporter: bush officials have always denied that waterboarding done at secret black sites, prisons in poland and other cooperating countries, was torture. senator john mccain himself tortured for years as a vietnam p.o.w., says the long-awaited senate report leaves no room for debate. >> i think the evidence is very clear that waterboarding was used as a routine technique, which is the definition of torture. >> reporter: still today the cia's former top lawyer defends the practices. >> they were harsh. but i didn't think then and i don't think now that they constitute torture.

embattled cia director. >> i have full confidence in john brennan. >> reporter: that senate report described by some as dynamite. but tonight intelligence chair dianne feinstein is complaining that the white house, which has the final say on who gets -- what gets declassified and released to the public, cut too much out of it and she's not going to release it in its edited form. the fight continues. >> andrea mitchell here with us in new york.

andrea mitchell. >> reporter: after receiving a still-secret senate report into the bush cia's post-9/11 interrogation, president obama said today the united states tortured prisoners. >> in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we did some things that were wrong. we did a whole lot of things that were right. but we tortured some folks. we did some things that were contrary to our values. >> reporter: the president banned waterboarding and other harsh techniques right after taking office. today he said he understands the pressure after 9/11. >> it's important when we look