Ron Wyden: CIA ‘Fearful’ of Report on Bush-Era Practices Being Made Public

On Tuesday, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, alleged that the Central Intelligence Agency may have violated the Constitution when they performed a search of the committee’s staffers’ computer records. CIA Director John Brennan denied that any “spying” occurred, which Feinstein alleges is tied to a review of the intelligence agency’s Bush-era detention and interrogation practices.

On Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) told CNN host Jake Tapper that the CIA’s actions are tied to the fact that they are “fearful” about the true nature of those practices being revealed to the public.

“The fundamental question here is whether the Congress of the United States is going to be able to do effective oversight over the intelligence apparatus,” Wyden told Tapper. “Again and again, the intelligence leadership has, in effect, thwarted the ability of Congress to get the information it needs to do that oversight.”

RELATED: CIA Director John Brennan: ‘In No Way’ Were We Spying on the Senate

Asked if he agreed with Feinstein who charged that the CIA had violated the Fourth Amendment

to the Constitution, Wyden said that Feinstein’s accusations were “very credible.”

“I’m becoming convinced that the CIA is simply fearful of the interrogation report being made public, and I think it’s time for the American people to get that information,” the senator asserted.

Watch the clip below, via CNN:

[Photo via screen grab]

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