ading off tonight, the cia and congress are at it again. house mocrats are now charging the cia with misleading members of congress for eight years about a classified progr beginning in 2001. now, is is confirmation of spker nancy pelosi's much-ridiculed charge couple months a that the cia misled her about terboarding or is this something else enrely? we have the chrman of the house telligence committee joining us in a momento tell us what he thinks the cia is really up to. >>> so, we have late-breaking news here at the politic sex scandal desk late tod we learned that the lawyer for john si, senator from nevada, says that the senator's parents gave neay $100,000 to sign'sistress and her family. political fallout for and the republicans coulbe disastrous and the "hardball" strategists are going to debate exacy how the republicans should be hale this one. >>> uswho is the real sonia somayor? is she the radical lefty that her critics want to portray or is she the sober, carefu moderate admired by r supporters? we'll lk to someone who has just

they mislead us all the time. >> well, then cia director panetta fired back in a letter to the cia personnel saying, let me be clear, it is not our policy or practice to mislead congress. that is against our laws and our values. let me ask you both, first, if i may, congressman issa, do you believe the cia did mislead speaker pelosi? >> no, i don't. i think porter goss who said he was briefed in realtime and continuously briefed is probably more accurate. and when speaker pelosi says they mislead us all the time,ic the fbi needs to investigate. because "all the time" implies multiple felonies. i think that's where speaker pelosi crossed the line. not that she didn't remember being briefed, which none of us can know, but the idea that she would just blithely say that the cia lies to us all the time. that's demoralizing for the premiere intelligence agency. >> congressman smith, as one of seven democratic members to write that letter to director panetta, asking him to correct his statement on misleading congress, let me just share with our audience part of what you wrote in that letter. recent

then the new cia director told congress dick cheney ordered the cia to lie.hat's not true. in other words, the cia is lying. well played, madam. miss cheney filibustering on msnbc today, claiming there is no evidence her father told the cia to keep congress in the dark. the word of the cia, of course, not evidence to her. >> was there any attempt by your father, in any way, to keep the cia from telling congress information they should have heard? >> well, i think you have to look, for example, at what general hayden said yesterday. general hayden, the former director of the cia came out publicly on the record and said he was under absolutely to restraint from briefing congress and that he had a series of triggers about when congress needed to be briefed and that those triggers were not met with this particular program. i think it does a disservice to former directors of the cia to politicize this issue and i think it does a disservice to the bush administration, frankly. we kept the nation safe for eight years. >> first, miss cheney, general hayden became dir

they're mad at the cia.tifiably, but the point is rather than taking thing out on this white house or the last, they're taking it out on the cia. it's an easy target and it's a target that cannot defend itself. >> and i believe that men and women who go behind the enemy lines and risk their lives every second of their lives for this country and get no credit because they can't be identified deserve better treatment than this. the vice president will we'll continue to talk about until he comes on this program and explains himself. david and bob, thank you. >>> up next, remember how john mccain spent his presidential campaign talking up this fellow whose name isn't actually joe and his job isn't actually the plumber, but they call him joe the plumber. mccain's daughter has some choice words for joe and that's coming in the "sideshow." you're watching, it "hardball" on msnbc. so, what's the problem? these are hot. we're shipping 'em everywhere. but we can't predict our shipping costs. dallas. detroit. different

tonight, the cia's secret. the attorney general is considering a criminal investigation into whether terror suspects were tortured. will high level cia operatives be prosecuted? >>> line of attack. con for make hearings start tomorrow for president obama's supreme court pick, who would be the first latina on the court. how republicans plan to use her own words against her. >>> new clues in the murder of a couple that adopted 12 children. the killers were recorded breaking into the family home. >>> and, hungry for life. a new study suggests you can live longer by eating far less. extreme dieters tell us how they live longer by eating far less. extreme dieters tell us how they stick to it. captions paid for by abc, inc. >>> president obama has repeatedly said he wants to look forward, not backwards. but tonight, it looks like washington may dive headlong into investigating how the cia under the bush administration handled the war on terror. attorney general eric holder is considering a criminal investigation into

this cia will not say the briefingasbout. other officials say was n about waterboarding, nor about inteogation practices. two days aft panetta's testimony, sever democratic members of t house intelligence committee having then senhe director lter in the we of his own testimony reading in part, quote, u recall, no dbt, th on may 15th, 2009, yostated the following a letter to cia employees -- let me clear, it is notur policy or practice to slead congress. thats against our laws and values. in light of your testimo, the letter continu, ask that you publiclyorrect your statement of may 15, 2009. in another stateme tonight, director petta is refusing to amend what he id in may, nor even confirm what the congressmen and won said he said in ne. again, reading in part, direor pattstands by his may 15 statement. it is not the policy opracti of the cia to mislead congress. this agency and is director belie is vital to keep the congress fully and crently informed. director panta's aions back that up. earlr this year, house speaker pelos

the cia.problem here. somehow we got to stop treating the cia as a political football. >> you're saying that democrats are calm today in the "washington post" is that democrats are using this situation, the failure of the cia to notify them because the vice president told them not to about a secret hit plan is being used by the democrats and friends of the speaker to prove that they're not an honest organization? >> that that is certainly -- >> let me go to bob bear. my concern is the vice president is operating in an executive capacity when under the constitution he has no executive authority. he, himself, denied, as incredible it seems, denied his participation in the executive branch of government. he says for purposes of disclosure of the income, et cetera, et cetera, he doesn't have to tell anybody that he's a member of the executive branch which i find part of his sort of m.o. your thoughts on this bob? >> the vice president is out of bounds, clearly. he has hidden a lot from, you know,

cia misled him. so much so that it could rise to the level of fraud. >>> and the surprising youtube video, a citizen requesting a republican congressman about president obama is even american. why the birth certificate conspiracy theory is a bigger problem for the gop than it is for the white house. right now, all over the country, discover card customers are getting 5% cashback bonus at the pump. now more than ever, it pays to discover. two identical rooms. so why does this one cost so much less on hotwire.com? when four star hotels have unsold rooms they use hotwire to fill them, so you get them at prices lower than any other travel site, guaranteed. >>> when republicans claim that house speaker nancy pelosi must have known about waterboarding in 2002 because the cia would never have misled her, they staked their credibility on the cia's credibility. as we told you last night, newly released documents in a separate case now strongly suggest that the cia was willing to lie at almost exactly time abo

the cia is in the secrecy business. and what i hear from the democratic members of congress is they want the cia to tell more of them what's going on. the best way to ruin a secrecy business is to tell -- >> even if you just tell the leaders, if you tell eight leaders four in the house and four in the senate, the majority and minority leader, and the chairman and the ranking member of the two -- >> that is appropriate. >> that's the tradition, you tell the eight or so-called gang of eight. >> what i'm hearing from the democratic members of the house is tell us all, tell more of us about it. if the eight leaders think what vice president cheney did was inappropriate, they should sit down with the new president and the new cia director and say we'd like to know more. that's the way to fix that problem. i have no way of knowing -- nor do or anybody else. >> no because presumably, even these eight leaders who traditionally are informed i think of almost everything, they were told by the vice president if you believe this st

>>> it's t congress versus the cia again. let's play "hardball." snchts thisonfirmation of nancy peloss riduled charge a couple months ago that theia misl hear about water arding? we have thchairman of the house intelligence coittee joining us in a moment t tell us what thinks the cia is really dng. also, we have late-brking news here at theolitical x scandal desk. late today we learned th lawy for john ensign says the senator's parents ga nearly 00,000 to ensign's mistress and her family. >>> plus, who is sonya sotomayor? she the radical lefty portrayed by her critics or the sor moderate careful judge admired by h supporters? we'll talk to someone who has just publhed a study o her judicialord. so, more breaking news we got word thisevenin that senator roland burris of illinois will not run f elti next year in 2010. burris, of course, was cght up in the rob blagojevich pl for pay scandal. and president obama's old senate seat is now totally up for grabs. that story is in the politics picks. >>> finly, what does it mean to pull a lin? th term is no

when we come back, the possible criminal investigation into cia practices.hock waves through washington. >> we'll look at the points of view involved in a spy agency probe. >> as we have been reporting, attorney general eric holder is being pressured to investigate whether former vice president cheney ordered a secrettowner terror program at the cia. >> some of that pressure came from guests on the sunday morning talk shows including "this week" with george stephanopoulos. >> senator durbin, do you think this has to be investigated? >> absolutely it does. we have a system of checks and balances. there is accountability in our constitution. the executive branch of government cannot create programs like these programs and keep congress in the dark. there is a requirement for disclosure. it has to be done in an appropriate way so it doesn't jeopardize our national security but to have a massive program that is concealed from the leaders in congress is not on inappropriate, it could be illegal. >> so you want the intelligence committee to look into this? >> abso

did the cia lie to congress? should former bush administration officials be held accountable and prosecuted? that's the topic of tonight's face-off debate. joining me the ranking member of the house intelligence committee, congress pete, republican from michigan and congresswoman, a democrat of california amongst those signing a letter from leon panetta, asking him to recan't earlier a defense of cia on misleading congress. thank you both for being here. congresswoman, you want a full investigation into these charges. why? >> i do. i think the -- i think that is really the main point because the national security act of 1947 requires, requires the executive branch to completely and fully inform the congress, and we know through the cia director, leon panetta, who followed the law and came and briefed us the day after he found out that this program had been in place since 2001 until june 23rd of this year that the congress had very purposefully been kept out. concealed was the word. >> right. >> that the informati

cia misled him. everyday acids can cause irreversible loss of enamel. new crest pro-health enamel shield protects... ...against enamel loss by forming a micro-thin shield against acid attack. only crest pro-health toothpastes protect all these areas. new crest pro-health enamel shield. >>> amid the politically charged atmosphere in d.c. about whether the cia misled congress, a judge in a separate matter steps into the pray and says the cia misled him. so much so that it could rise to the level of fraud. >>> and the surprising youtube video, a citizen requesting a republican congressman about president obama is even american. why the birth certificate conspiracy theory is a bigger problem for the gop than it is for the white house. access to favorite courses chef's meal with pommes frites perhaps a night at the theater with extra special seats additional hotel night, our treat your world in perfect harmony: priceless look for world on your mastercard to get rewards and offers that matter to you. from

the cia, panetta are not acknowledginthat. sa it did not happen. >> andrea mitche in our washington bureau, who hasdded so mh to this story in the last half hour. great workgreat thanks. >> thank you. >> for moron the implications of ts, let's turn to former cia officer anformer prosecutor, jack re, giving us some of his time once agn tonight. thk you for doing so, jack. could this bmissing link or maybbetter, is it a linchpin turning point, whichever cliche is most appropriate, towar some sort of mr of actual substantiative investigaon into bush administtion policy here and what the congressas and was not to by the cia post-91, whether it's about torture, whether it's abou warrantless wireppg or anythi else relating to the agcy? >> potentiallywhat it's really about now is about credibity. there's really two par to this, as we listen to andrea's rert here. the first rt is not providing all of the information that th cia had. that's one part. buif they actually rposefully lied here. the next piece of this investigation, i'm thi

so what it is saying is the cia mustnform you when they anticipate doing something. they musthennform you whe they are currently doing something, andhat leon panetta came in there andsaid,nd you have just agreed that he said, that they were conducting a secret program that you were not told about for eight years. how ca you ok at that as anything but aviolation of the law we just read? >> number one, yo only read a portioof the law. there are a num of exceptions that are listed later. numb two, director panetta came and brought toour attention a matter that thought needed to be brought to our attention, and all of us appreciate that. that is very differentrom mping to a conclusion tha sa they violated th law or that they intentionally lied to congress. d theproblem here is that you row out that allegation, and nobody can back it up, and nobody can contradict it because it's alllaified information. that's partof the reason, as well athe timing, that this looks like it's more political than it is anythingelse. >> mr. chairman, tell your republican colleagueere what it

cheney is linked to concealment of cia project. congress was in dark.panetta, the current cia director, said to have old oversight panels of direct orders. how big of a problem potentially is this for the former vice president? >> it's a big problem for the administration. >> the obama administration. >> this is very suspect timing. the president's agenda is almost in shambles. his numbers are dropping. isn't it coincidental they gin up a cheney story. "the new york times" is accusing the vice president of telling -- of ordering the cia to not tell the congress about a program that didn't exist. it wasn't operational. it was never operational. further, there's a reason, which he had every right to do even if it was operational. there's a reason that the executive branch withholds information, because when it leaks it renders said program infective or inoperative. right now barack obama's threatening his first veto on this same issue. how many people get to know at what level? the more people that know, the more it leaks, as did our surveillance program,

cia plans to kill al-qaeda leaders. first of all, greg, the "wall street journal" isn't owned but you. owned by another great man so easy mistake. >> greg: sorry about that. wow. >> mike, greg framed this as to weather or not the cia. >> southbound it that the cia is obligated to inform certain members of congress of all its plans. >> not all the plans. based on the security act of 1947 and article two it states what is and isn't necessary to go up on the hill and briefing members. thank you for making me look so mart. >> is none of this classifyd that is coming out? >> what could we want to brief now five times people to get access to the source of information? absolutely absurd. and to ease my pain it's [ bleep ] absurd. >> had to do it, take it to the gutter. i'm debriefing you after the show. i a-hole that is what you are. >> isn't this a cover for pelosi's smear that the cia slid and. >> i could like to go into it further but i have been debriefed. >> barrett, you said you didn't think you could give your opinion o

that is, did the cia director told democratic members of congress that the cia has been misleading congress? nancy pelosi claimed earlier this spring that she was lied to by the cia. leon panetta, who served alongside her for some time, said no, we do not do that. now the allegation is that he admitted that he had been misleading congress behind closed doors. james rosen, we did not learn a great deal during the news conference accept for the fact that the speaker of the house does not often speak to the cia director these days. >> she says she has barely spoken to cia director leon panetta this year since he took the job. she did say that he did give a briefing that was of concern to members of the house intelligence committee. some republican members are disputing the democratic claims that cia director leon panetta admitted in this briefing that the cia has been misleading congress. one republican member was quoted as a team, yes, he came to us with his hair on fire. republicans say it did not merit that kind of approach from them. jon: james rosen, thank you. we will continue our look a

the cia may have some leeway. a government source says the program was, quote, on again/off again and never fully operational. >> if a program like this was never fully implemented and went into the field, then i'm sure there were some in the agency that said we'll not make this a policy choice so we don't need to notify them. >> reporter: one member of the intelligence committee that i spoke with said whether the program was on again or off again, in her 2 1/2 years of serving on the house intelligence committee, this is the fourth time that the cia has either misled her or kept vital information from its congressional overseers. lester? >> mike viqueira, thanks. >>> the u.s. senate tomorrow starts the confirmation hearing for sonia sotomayor. president obama's nominee for the u.s. supreme court. the white house has released this photo of president obama on the telephone with sotomayor today wishing her luck. though she's expected to be confirmed, republicans will raise serious questions about her record as a jud

ed, is talking to a former cia officer.tz' first name is ed his show is named after a horse? meaning if rush limbaugh's first name is rush his show is named after a rush like a drug rush? but our winner, obama birther and general nut who has gotten another person fired. they sued to get him out of assignment to afghanistan. the claim was obama's not really the president so he couldn't really order anybody to serve anywhere. one thing ms. tates never mentioned in publicizing the suit, cook had volunteered for service in afghanistan and then sued to stop it. but as a volunteer he could simply change his mind and the army could not send him there. meaning the suit was a transparent political stunt. the army has already vacated cook's orders. he's not going to afghanistan. but what increasingly looks like her sap of a victim cook didn't consider is in civilian life he is a systems engineer for a pentagon contractor. naturally enough the army sued by a guy has the right to say he is not welcome at department of defense facilitie

he wants to lead the cia. he wants presint oba to have credibility with t cia.e wants to get us to a new place. so the really n't want to be dragged into these old controversies. but he's also a formermember of congress. and he kno that congress is suppos to be briefed on this. d he believes in briefg congressn this. so i think the notion tha leon panetta, with his responsibilities at the cia, i somehow cooking somethingp for nancy pelosi,that fls in the fa of who he and is how he behad when this controversy started in the firstplace. >> i want to ask you aout the sotomayor.on hearings of sonia w gressive do y anticipate the republicans to g? today was kind of a shot ove the bow. wh knows if it will go any further than what it did toda most pe arehking there aren't going to be jor roadblocks here. what do you thin >> i don'think we're going to have maj roadblocks but clearly th repuicans have laid wn that they are going to me after her, you know. she'not an umpire. she's supposed to be calling bas and strikes. yoknow, that's no reallyhat weick supre court justic

>>> democrats escalate the investigation into the cia. republicans call the investigation political theater. >>> sus sected al qaeda terrorists target americans and other westerners in indonesia. suicide bombers detonate explosives in two international hotels. >>> and president obama makes a dramatic attempt to end the health care showdown with republicans and some democrats, even some members of his own party, are concerned about the cost of his proposal. >>> but, first, breaking news on the investigation in to the cia. democrats want to find out whether the cia broke the law by not telling congress about a secret program to kill al qaeda terrorists. well, that program was never carried out. house intelligence committee chairman, silvestre reyes, said the investigation will examine other cia operations. the top republican on this committee, pete hofstra, said democrats are trying to politicize intelligence. lisa sylvester has the report. >> hi, kitty. it was last month when cia director leon panetta informed lawmakers about this secret p

but the cia could still face tough questioning on another front. attorney general eric holder is reportedly leaning toward hiring a special prosecutor to investigate whether the cia's questioning of terrorism suspects broke the law. that's prompting bipartisan criticism. >> the military has done a series of independent reports, and i believe that that's sufficient. i don't believe a special commission is necessary. >> i just don't want to see an instance where, if the higher-ups gave the order to break the law, that the ones who get punished are the people basically on the front lines, the lower level troops. >> reporter: that's exactly what those on the front line believe will happen, according to former cia official michael scheuer. if there's a special prosecutor appointed, what will it do to intelligence gathering? >> i think it will pull everyone back from doing anything that's nonconventional. >> reporter: he pointed out the cia already encourages its agents to take out personal liability insurance. that's to cover their legal bills in case o

the cia. this despite today's a admsision to the cia that whwhilitits not cia policy t tlilie wants credititoror t director telling congngre a abo times the cia did lie anyway.. it's s stotiti. irming last night's blockbustetererevetion leon pennnnet t td congress last month thatat, s,s, ncy pelosi said the cia misled cocongssss since 2001. the house e decrcratreveal add letter they had ststntnt pnetta jujune6th referring to secrere testimony he gave as receceny y two days earlilierayayg you teififietop officials gnificant actions of a a meers of congress and misleded numbers for a numberer oyeyear fr 2 21 to this week based o on that, the e decrcrs asked pennetta to revise h hisololy it was not prpraccece. two mislead congressss totodathey stood by the stement that concealing g inings omom cgress is not policy but so implicitly confirmed ththe letters central l clm.m. pennetta revealed titimewhwh it happenenednynywa ititas the cia itself to t too the initiative t tnonoti the oversisighacactit

atat mns cia oicics. lot o of tension r w between the administration ddhe cia, congrere d the cia. is obviously would opepen up not onlyake up oxygen on healthh cacare and o otherhuhu legeglal endeavors thee administration ns plpled on high prority, but really f furth open up and inflame a a gg gulf right now betweenn the e exetive branch ad the legislalativerarah with the cia. b.b., the big ststoryhis week will be jududge siaia sotomayors confirmamati hearings. th s srt tomororroupupon cacatotol ll. we'vhehed this morning frfrom the senior r replican on the senate judiciary cocommite,e, jf sessions,, who sayss s she ststw th she willl not showow bias on ththbench. how tough d dyoyouxpect the republicans s toee on judgege tomayor? >>>> ihihink theyeyll be quitee tough. i ththkk t t ctct that the ritchey case wasoverturneddit suprememe cot t s a big issue. th'll have frank ritchey come and testify anand they'll press her very hard on affirmativeve action, empathyhy om the bench,h, whatt that means, doese s

they weren't cia officers. they were contractors from outside who were brought in to actually do the interrogation. >> nobody was off the hook. the attorney general, the president, the entire administration takes an oath to protect and defend. protecting and defending in the case of this enemy. this asymmetrical war we're in is intelligence. it's the key. they're undermining our ability to gather intelligence by going backwards and investigating and prosecuting the intelligence gathers, the lawyers who render the opinion, it is criminalization of political and every time i come back to the timing. every time they get in trouble, which the president's poll numbers are slipping and his health care and global warming initiatives are under assault, they dredge up a darth vader story. >> i guess the question is this, james. at a time when the president is trying to get health care reform and economic stimulus package that may or may not be working the way you thought it would. enormous international headaches whethe

if you know the history of the cia, you know that presidents have told the cia to do things since 1947 that the cia then lied to congress about. it's laughable that the cia has never lied to congress. they lie to congress on a routine basis. assist part of their portfolio. however, it's usually the president. in fact, i don't say usually, it's always been the president who directs the cia to do these things and then takes the fall if like eisenhower sending u2s over the soviet union, suddenly gary powers is shut down and eisenhower's plans and his activities are revealed and he has to take the blame for it. this is unprecedented now. we have a vice president who has apparently authorized these activities, whether or not the president knew or not is anyone's question. i don't think he probably did. the division of labor in the white house in that first term was cheney gets everything that's important and i get everything that's easy, if i am bush. so cheney was making most of the national security decisions, most of the domestic decisions that marrieded, and he was certainly making most

. >>> the cia's secret dick cheney plan. more details about the assassination of al qaeda leaders but the assassination of al qaeda supporters, you know, the equivalence in other countries of the people who would say things like this -- >> the only chance we have as a country right now is for osama bin laden to deploy and detonate a major weapon in the united states. >>> can't keep it zippered-gate. senator ensign may run for re-election anyway. governor sanford is taking time off from taking time off. he's on vacation, hoping to reconcile with the misses. so, dear, you ever been to argentina? >>> and "worsts" -- a surprise for the birth certificate denier, who sued claiming obama wasn't really president and thus couldn't legally send him to afghanistan. he had volunteered to go to afghanistan, so the military simply said, okay, you don't have to go, end of story. except in civilian live, major stefan cook is reportedly an employee of a pentagon contractor and reportedly the pentagon told the contractor, sorry, he just sued

i think we do want the cia going after al qaeda. law, it's important to look at the specific language of the law, and that makes clear, and this is an issue that the white house and congress have been fighting over for many years now, and frankly continue to fight over it every day, which is who has ultimate authority. but the law is clear, and the law says that the executive branch can make these decisions about when to brief, and they can make decisions based on concern about whether or not it's going to hurt sources and methods, and whether or not the information will be leaked. >> eugene, hold on one second. and stan is going to chime in. >> i think it's instructive, if you look at the fact that these programs, this plan was kept secret for eight years, and then apparently, as soon as we briefed the congress, now it's public. i think that tells you why there may have been a reason why they did not brief them. >> i think that's disinjen wis. if you brief congress, it always leaks -- >> i did not say that. >> but the system does,

the cia to keep congress in the dark? should mr. cheney care? >> i think that's the major issue and we have to develop many more facts to know what his exposure is here. but i would doubt that his exposure is of the level we see with the torture issue, for instance, or his role in the outing of valerie plame, a covert cia agent. in this case it's very likely that cheney and addington, who were very deep in this program, secured the appropriate paperwork. they got national intelligence, they got president bush to sign off. that would be perfect cover for him and would address any potential criminal exposure he would have. >> doesn't that cry out for what they did in the valerie plame case, where they appointed a special prosecutor? never mind what congress does with committees that are investigating. isn't there a burden on eric holder the attorney general to go ahead and name a special prosecutor to review some of those issues? >> exactly. i think that's one of the reasons we see blair suggesting that there was no need to

we'll come bk on the cia versus the democrats, democts versushe cia. should we care about th?nly in my opinion, if it affects future feign poli. whmplts lo turns to murder. ain the steve mcnair aga. trag to say the least. >>> ink of all the time we spendorrying about serial killers in pla crasheshen unfortately vio crime lis as close to home as this situation shows. decisions,s,ecisions. whicbebel prepared meal tonighght? roasted chicken recipe? okay, vory rice and lamb stew. [ babarks ] you're right. tonight is a beeststew kind of night. you've made her fine choice. look at those beefchunks all packed with prei the real vivitamin-ri vegetables, the whwhesome ains. and you ththink u're getting spoiled.. 's so good for you too.. announcer ] benefuprprepared meals. three new w eneeee heheththfu flavorful. beneful. >>>> contessa, what e else is gg on h he ifif >> president obamama dylan, and his g-8 cocoteterpts in ilyly fosing on climatehahae and the economy toy.y. thth g gro has washington, d.c. t topffffials inhehe oma aministration exexprsing concern about w wheer n1 could ca

people who tnk the cia is lying, they've got so kind of assumption abo w the cia would be lying and thewho are saying the ciaoesn't make it a practice. what are wefraid of? is the cia acting like regades? are th off the reservation? what are we afraid of? >> harold? >> ihink in fairness to what the cia spokespersonaid he did give validity to what anna hoo said. th the cia itself took the initiative tootify the oversight committe which you an i c say we notifiethem of somethinghat was going on. other question for me, d thsk the director orre there other programs sheay not be aware of and what steps are you taking to learnof them. he notifd them when he learned of them. what action, if any, can be taken if indeedhe programs rellegal in their practice? >> you work on it. we'll bring in the republan reesentative from michigan, also a memberuch of the house intelligen coite, congressman mikerogers. congressman, it sounds le harold has a good place to art. first of l, tells what was your reactn, what was the republican reactionhen leon panetta told you about these prrams tt had been going on

this cia wi not say what the briefing w about. her offici say it wasot about waterboarding, nor abo interrogatn practices. two days afr panetta testimony, several democratic members othe house intelligence commimieeee hing thenen sent the d dirtotor in t wake of his owown testimony reading in part,t, quote, y you rereca, no doubt, t th on yy 15th, 200009,ouou stated t t followingin aeett to ciaa emoyoy-- let me be clea it isis notur policycyor pctice to mislead congress. that is against our lawsnd valulu.. in light o o your stimony, the letter contntueues, we ask that you publicly c crect your atement ofof may 15,, 2009. in another statement tight, director panetetta is r refing amend what said in may, noror even nfirm what the ngngssmen and men saidee said in june. again, r reang in part, dececr papatttta ands by his may 15 statement. it is not the policy or practice of the cia too misleadd coness. is agency a tss director believe it is vitall t to keep ngngss fully and currentlyly informed. director panetta's actioions bk that u

he'd go down to the cia and get personal briefings.summon cia officers to his office to get briefs and he would give -- >> the former president has billed himself still today, and i'm sure in his biography, as the decider. who decided to put together hit squads and keep that information from congress? >> well, from what we know, this is one of a number of plans that came up within the ranks of the agency, within the clandestine service under director of operations. and look, it -- >> who decided to keep it secret? we were told by "the new york times" in its lead the vice president decided that. he made a direct order to the cia to do that. >> he told them not to inform congress about it, but first of all -- and to keep it secret, it was all secret at the time. i mean, every -- the president's order giving the cia broad authority to conduct lethal operations against al qaeda remains classified to this day. we haven't seen the wording of the national security directive on that. we know of its existence. so -- but, look, everybody knew po

they weren't cia officers. they were contractors from outside who were brought in to actually do the interrogation. >> nobody was off the hook. the attorney general, the president, the entire administration takes an oath to protect and defend. protecting and defending in the case of this enemy. this asymmetrical war we're in is intelligence. it's the key. they're undermining our ability to gather intelligence by going backwards and investigating and prosecuting the intelligence gathers, the lawyers who render the opinion, it is criminalization of political and every time i come back to the timing. every time they get in trouble, which the president's poll numbers are slipping and his health care and global warming initiatives are under assault, they dredge up a darth vader story. >> i guess the question is this, james. at a time when the president is trying to get health care reform and economic stimulus package that may or may not be working the way you thought it would. enormous international headaches whethe

', and fingers are pointing to the cia director.skin on the beach during spring break. a group of students not the setting would make a great place for a class project, but apparently they were acting too good. @mfmfhnp0x megyn: kelly's court is back in session. simulated sex on the beach landing eight college students in jail. there were busted for shooting a racy project in myrtle beach, south carolina. and not a spring break scene with the woman appearing to provide a sexual favor. the problem is, a grandmother comes walking along, sees what is happening, and asks what is happening. the grandmother goes ballistic hand the next thing you know the police are on the scene and everyone gets arrested. $10,000 bail for each one, even though it was just an act and nobody got naked. so can this charges -- and the charges stick? good morning, a panel. doesn't this take you back your spring break days, kimberly? [laughter] what are they thinking? they did not have any permanence, they start stimulating sex acts. apparently, this girl was t

the cia to not tell congress eight years. was that becse the plan was too much or too little? spial prosecutor. the words are whspers of the torney general, mr. holder. an actual criminal invesgation into torture? the sotomayor hearings. invition to an anti-climax. as senator graham says to her, unless you have a complete meltdown you're going to get confmed. and the sarah con woman chronicl. she's going tort her own consvative party with decrats. plus levi johnson is w talking about her, ote, stress levels. all that and more now on "countdown." >>> good evening from new rk. theame bush-cheney administration which faid to heed warnings from i own officialans from al qaeda, itself, that failed t preven the worst attack on u.s. soil, that failed get the also we learned tay the same administrati which failed to me up with a single viable plan for the cia tocapture or kill members o al qaeda, despite running an eight-yea long missi so secret the vic president orded the cia to not tell congress about it. "the wall street journalto

nancy pelosi isvindicated, the cia director admitsongress was misled. nority leader john boehner admitse's using this conflict for political gain. we'll hear from a mocrat and a republican from the house intelligce committee in just a moment and a new poll shows the economy seem to be taking its toll o president obama's pularity. vice predent joeiden doing damage control. an we'll talk with ohio congressma dennis kucinich at e bottom the ho >>> and a republican sex scandal ts dirtier an more complicad. there's another nator legedly involved? >>> plus how about sarah palin on the front cover of "time" magazi. a great panel cong up, but first,onht, op ed. how about th? the cia has been concealing, let's see what's anoer good wo forncealing? ding, operations from the congressince 2001. now, gosh, what was happening back in 2001? i think we were getti ready to go intwar, wen't we? let me tell you something, is is no longer an inside the belty political fig. thisuts right t the chase, ts right to the fabric, to the re of the issue of how we run our country a