Rockefeller feels ‘deep disappointment’ in White House

Sen. John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) said he was surprised the Obama administration supported CIA leadership and tried to delay the release of a report on detention and torture programs.

“I came to feel the White House’s strong deference to the CIA has worked at times in cross purposes of being the most transparent administration,” Rockefeller said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “Significant parts of his story remain behind black ink.”

{mosads}Rockefeller made the comments moments after Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) announced the 500-page summary report was being released. Her committee spent years investigating the CIA’s detention and interrogation program under former President George W. Bush’s after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The report found that the CIA used torture to try and garner information from detainees, and lied to Congress and the public about the scale of their techniques. 

Feinstein said the White House redacted a small percentage of the report, but Rockefeller said the administration has refused to give Congress even more documents.

“This White House continued to quietly withhold 9,000 documents,” Rockefeller said. “I don’t know why. They won’t say, and they won’t produce.”

Lawmakers complained that the White House took too long looking over the congressional report. Rockefeller said he felt “deep disappointment” with the way the Obama administration handled the situation.