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CIA Director George Tenet Spent Much of Wednesday in Hot Seat
Aired July 17, 2003 - 05:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CIA Director George Tenet spent much of his Wednesday in the hot seat. He was grilled by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Law makers wanted to know how faulty intelligence on Iraq's nuclear ambitions made its way into President Bush's State of the Union address.
CNN Congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl reports on Tenet's testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CIA Director George Tenet did not look like a man under fire as he emerged from five hours of closed door testimony.
SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-MS), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The director was very contrite. He was very candid. He was very forthcoming and he accepted full responsibility.
KARL: According to sources familiar with his testimony, Tenet said he had been given a copy of the president's State of the Union speech but never actually read it before it was delivered. Democrats emerged from the hearing saying the CIA director may have been negligent, but he does not bear full responsibility for the faulty intelligence that made it into the speech.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV), VICE CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Director Tenet took the blame. He was terrific about it. In my mind there remains the question of whether, in fact, that's where it should stop. I tend to think not and I think we have to face up to that.
KARL: The lone presidential candidate on the committee came out of the hearing blaming George Bush, not George Tenet.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: It's enormously important for the president himself and the White House to take responsibility for what the president himself says.
KARL: Earlier at the White House, Press Secretary Scott McClellan accused Democrats of playing politics with national security.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The last thing anyone should do is politicize this issue by rewriting history. There are some where the present rhetoric does not match their past record. KARL: As Tenet faced the Intelligence Committee, a verbal firestorm erupted on the Senate floor over an amendment pushed by Ted Kennedy to require the president to set a timetable for getting international support to rebuild Iraq. Alaska's Ted Stevens accused Kennedy of trying to micro manage the president's foreign policy.
SEN. TED STEVENS (R), ALASKA: The president of the United States is the president of the United States. I really can't believe anyone would vote for this amendment.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We have American servicemen that are like a shooting gallery over there and the senator from Alaska is rejecting our request from the president of the United States to tell us what our policy is? We don't have a post-war policy for development in Iraq. We have failed intelligence.
KARL (on camera): This was Tenet's first appearance before Congress on the issue of questionable prewar intelligence, but it won't be his last. He is expected to be called back both for more closed door inquiries and for public hearings that are expected to begin in September.
Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Seat>
Aired July 17, 2003 - 05:06 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: CIA Director George Tenet spent much of his Wednesday in the hot seat. He was grilled by the Senate Intelligence Committee. Law makers wanted to know how faulty intelligence on Iraq's nuclear ambitions made its way into President Bush's State of the Union address.
CNN Congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl reports on Tenet's testimony.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): CIA Director George Tenet did not look like a man under fire as he emerged from five hours of closed door testimony.
SEN. PAT ROBERTS (R-MS), CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: The director was very contrite. He was very candid. He was very forthcoming and he accepted full responsibility.
KARL: According to sources familiar with his testimony, Tenet said he had been given a copy of the president's State of the Union speech but never actually read it before it was delivered. Democrats emerged from the hearing saying the CIA director may have been negligent, but he does not bear full responsibility for the faulty intelligence that made it into the speech.
SEN. JAY ROCKEFELLER (D-WV), VICE CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Director Tenet took the blame. He was terrific about it. In my mind there remains the question of whether, in fact, that's where it should stop. I tend to think not and I think we have to face up to that.
KARL: The lone presidential candidate on the committee came out of the hearing blaming George Bush, not George Tenet.
SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), NORTH CAROLINA: It's enormously important for the president himself and the White House to take responsibility for what the president himself says.
KARL: Earlier at the White House, Press Secretary Scott McClellan accused Democrats of playing politics with national security.
SCOTT MCCLELLAN, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The last thing anyone should do is politicize this issue by rewriting history. There are some where the present rhetoric does not match their past record. KARL: As Tenet faced the Intelligence Committee, a verbal firestorm erupted on the Senate floor over an amendment pushed by Ted Kennedy to require the president to set a timetable for getting international support to rebuild Iraq. Alaska's Ted Stevens accused Kennedy of trying to micro manage the president's foreign policy.
SEN. TED STEVENS (R), ALASKA: The president of the United States is the president of the United States. I really can't believe anyone would vote for this amendment.
SEN. EDWARD KENNEDY (D), MASSACHUSETTS: We have American servicemen that are like a shooting gallery over there and the senator from Alaska is rejecting our request from the president of the United States to tell us what our policy is? We don't have a post-war policy for development in Iraq. We have failed intelligence.
KARL (on camera): This was Tenet's first appearance before Congress on the issue of questionable prewar intelligence, but it won't be his last. He is expected to be called back both for more closed door inquiries and for public hearings that are expected to begin in September.
Jonathan Karl, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
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