Feinstein Signals Opposition To Independent Torture Commission

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Senate intelligence committee, which is conducting its own investigation into the CIA and torture, appeared to signal her opposition to chartering a separate commission on torture, let alone prosecution. Sticking up for her inquiry, which will wrap up within a year, she said that alongside the six intelligence committee members also on the judiciary committee, “we will be able to provide a substantial body of knowledge and work within which substantial judgments and assessments can be made.” To make investigating torture “an explosive issue” without laying out the body of information she said her inquiry intends to present would “be a big, big mistake.”

After Feinstein spoke, both Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) reiterated their support for an “independent, bipartisan commission” separate from the Senate intelligence and judiciary committees.