For my money the

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

For my money the most troubling thing about Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), Nancy Pelosi’s choice to head up the House Intelligence Committee, is his frequent travels with GOP loose cannon extraordinaire Curt Weldon.

Today the Wall Street Journal offers conflicting accounts of whether Reyes was present at a now notorious Paris meeting between Weldon and Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Zelig of American foreign policy scandals:

As a member of Armed Services, [Reyes] has frequently traveled overseas as part of delegations led by one of the panel’s most senior and controversial Republicans, Pennsylvania Rep. Curt Weldon.

Mr. Weldon, who was defeated in last month’s midterm elections, has made high-profile stops in North Korea, Libya and Russia in recent years, and has been outspoken about the threat posed by Iran. An August 2003 trip included a stopover in Paris that drew the ire of the Central Intelligence Agency, according to two recently retired members of the agency’s Directorate of Operations.

Included was a meeting at a Paris hotel with group of Iranian exiles to discuss Iran’s alleged role in terrorism and developing weapons of mass destruction. Among the leaders of the Iranian delegation was Manucher Ghorbanifar, a central figure in the Reagan administration’s Iran-Contra scandal and a man the CIA had accused of providing bogus intelligence to the Americans.

In an interview Friday, William Murray, who was the CIA’s station chief in Paris at the time, said he tried to prevent the lawmakers from going to the meeting after he learned that Mr. Ghorbanifar would be attending. But he said that his advice went unheeded. “Reyes was one of the guys who met with Ghorbanifar,” Mr. Murray said.

Mr. Reyes’s office said Friday that he has never met with Mr. Ghorbanifar, and didn’t attend the hotel meeting during the Paris stopover.

The significance of the trip, in any case, is a matter of dispute. Some critics argue that going against the advice of a CIA station chief is naive. Others say Democrats on a Republican-led delegation have a responsibility to attend all meetings, and going against a local CIA officer’s advice isn’t without precedent for traveling lawmakers.

Laura Rozen has done a lot of good reporting on this subject. You might start here for a refresher.

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: