White House Apologized To Top Intel Senators For Not Telling Them About Bergdahl

FILE - This March 27, 2014, file photo shows Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington. At the center of a hotly disputed Senate torture report is Amer... FILE - This March 27, 2014, file photo shows Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. speaking on Capitol Hill in Washington. At the center of a hotly disputed Senate torture report is America’s biggest counterterrorism success of all: the killing of Osama bin Laden. The still-classified, 6,200-page review concludes that waterboarding and other harsh interrogation methods provided no key evidence in the hunt for bin Laden, according to congressional aides and outside experts familiar with the investigation. The CIA still disputes that conclusion. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) MORE LESS
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The White House reached out to the top senators on the Intelligence Committee on Monday night to apologize for not letting them know about the prisoner swap before the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters on Tuesday that National Deputy Security Adviser Tony Blinken called her on Monday night.

“He apologized for it and said it was an oversight,” Feinstein said, clarifying that he didn’t necessarily use the word “oversight.”

Feinstein lamented that she didn’t know about the prisoner exchange ahead of time.

“It’s very disappointing that there was not a level of trust sufficient to justify alerting us,” she said.

Sen. Saxby Chamblis (R-GA), the ranking member of the Intelligence committee, said that a “high-ranking” White House official apologized to him in a Monday night phone call, according to Buzzfeed.

“They said it just been called to their attention that I had not received advanced notification of this transaction,” he said.

He was not pleased that he had not been updated about Bergdahl’s release.

“I haven’t had a conversation with the White House on this issue in a year and a half. If that’s keeping us in the loop than the administration is more arrogant than I thought,” he said.

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Notable Replies

  1. Too bad.

  2. Ugh, why does this admin keep apologizing for doing the right thing?

  3. Avatar for jsfox jsfox says:

    Arrogent? Or just sick and tired of Republicans trying to obstruct every good move by the White House. And Dianne I do not blame them in the least for their low level of trust.

  4. “I haven’t had a conversation with the White House on this issue in a year and a half. If that’s keeping us in the loop than the administration is more arrogant than I thought,” he said.

    They told me this might go through a year and a half ago, but… but… I am like Guy Peirce in Memento so now I wasn’t informed about this 30 days or more.

  5. Avatar for Libs Libs says:

    Oh…so the Obama administration lied again…imagine that!!!

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