MSNBC Interview - Transcript

Interview

MSNBC Interview - Transcript

MSNBC INTERVIEW WITH SENATOR SHELDON WHITEHOUSE (D-RI)

SUBJECT: TORTURE PROSECUTIONS

INTERVIEWER: NORAH O'DONNELL

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MS. O'DONNELL: Rhode Island Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has been a vocal important of such techniques. He's also a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Senator, good to see you. Thank you so much for joining us.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Thanks, Norah. It's good to be with you.

MS. O'DONNELL: You know, this president wants a lot of transparency. And the more we learn, the more disturbing this all becomes because apparently it's not just the Bush administration that's to blame. All you have to do is read the front page of The New York Times today that says, in a series of high level meetings in 2002, without a single dissent from Cabinet members or lawmakers, they embraced these brutal methods. Not a peep from Congress. Your reaction?

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Well, I think the -- I'd be a little bit careful about going that road. For starters, I wasn't here at the time.

MS. O'DONNELL: I know you weren't.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: What I understand is that a very small number of members of Congress were informed of this by the Bush administration, that they got the sanitized version of the techniques, and that they obviously were told that this was deeply classified and that they couldn't talk about it. And so for members of Congress not to make a peep when they're informed on this stuff, assuming that that's the case -- again, I wasn't here; I don't know -- but you have to understand the constraint that we operate under. It's quite frustrating because the executive branch can declassify almost at will at high-level positions. And we in Congress are given the information, but aren't unable to say a word about it lest FBI agents come to the door and make inquiries about whether we are releasing classified information.

MS. O'DONNELL: Understood.

Senator, can I ask you about what appeared to be a shift from the White House yesterday, the president now indicating he is in fact open to an investigation, open to perhaps prosecution of top Bush administration officials who authorized -- who wrote these particular memos. Who do you think should be held responsible? Is it Jay Bybee, or do you think it goes all the way up to Don Rumsfeld and perhaps higher?

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: I think it's -- it's early to tell. The Office of Professional Responsibility is looking into the Department of Justice side and the Office of Legal Counsel torture memos. That report I assume will be out in a number of weeks. It's been quite a long time already. That will be enormously helpful. And we in the Senate Intelligence Committee are looking at the substantive side of what was done and who did it. So I think it's a little bit early to tell.

But I think the boundary is clear. And it relates back to what the president said initially. If somebody reasonably relied on orders and legal authorities that they were given, if they stayed within those authorities, if they limited themselves to the predicates for those authorities, and if they acted in good faith, well, yeah, there's no case. That's an accurate statement of the law.

But for those who acted outside of the authorities, those who acted if the predicate was no longer true, those who acted either unreasonably or in bad faith, I think they are wide open for potential prosecution. And that's a decision that, down the road, based on the evidence and the law, the attorney general will have to make.

MS. O'DONNELL: All right. Senator Sheldon, Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island. Senator, good to see you. Thanks so much for joining us.

SEN. WHITEHOUSE: Thank you, Norah.

END.

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