House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Thursday that she's not discouraging travel by her family to avoid swine flu like Vice President Biden suggested he'd done Thursday, but indicated she might be encouraging them to stay home.
The speaker said that she hadn't discouraged travel by her family in states affected most severely by swine flu, but rather encouraged "common-sense good practices," which in this case might mean not leaving their homes in California, Texas, and Arizona.
"I'm not saying to them, you know, let's all go someplace together, no. They're living their lives and, again, practicing common-sense good practices," Pelosi said in her weekly press conference. "And so it's not a question of not encouraging them not to travel, it's also a question of encouraging them not to leave home because their states -- Texas, California -- I'm not absolutely certain about Arizona -- but I know New York are three of the states that are the most, shall we say, suspicious in this case."
Biden had said during an appearance on NBC early this morning that he wouldn't advise his family to travel in "confined spaces," particularly in flights to Mexico, where the swine flu broke out. The vice president's office has since backtracked on those remarks.
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said Thursday she's "sure" there will be some sort of congressional investigation into Justice Department lawyers who signed off on waterboarding and other interrogation tactics.
"I think there are enough members that want to make sure the information is all on the record, that we have certainly looked behind every nook and cranny to see exactly what happened," she said. "So I'm sure there'll be some form of investigation in Congress."
The Missouri Democrat said that Justice Dept. lawyers shouldn't get off for approving the controversial tactics, breaking with the Obama administration, which has indicated a preference that there be no criminal investigations.
"I think giving these lawyers a pass is a big problem because when you're a lawyer, your job is to show what the law is, not to give somebody the political answer they want," McCaskill said this morning during an appearance on MSNBC.
McCaskill opened the door to lawyers potentially being disbarred for the legal advice they provided Bush administration officials, as well.
"It may be malpractice, and they maybe should have their tickets pulled as lawyers because you are supposed to tell, when you're asked, what the law is, not what your bosses want to hear," she continued, adding that she's "anxious" to read the outcome of an investigation into the memos by the Office of Professional Responsibility.
The leader of a congressional effort to reform the criminal justice system said Thursday that all issues -- including drug legalization -- need to be on the table.
Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who has made criminal justice and prison reform a signature issue of his this year in Congress, is the most high-profile lawmaker to indicate openness to drug decriminalization or outright legalization.
"Well, I think what we need to do is to put all of the issues on the table," Webb said this morning on CNN if asked if marijuana legalization would be part of his criminal justice reform efforts.
"If you go back to 1980 as a starting point, I think we had 40,000 people in prison on drug charges, and today, we have about 500,000 of them," the first-term Virginia lawmaker said. "And the great majority of those are nonviolent crimes -- possession crimes or minor sales."
Webb joins several other lawmakers who have called for the exploration of legalized pot, amidst a drug war in Mexico fueled by revenues from American drug sales.
"I think they should examine every aspect of drugs policy to see what's working and what's not working, and where the consistencies are and, quite frankly, where the inconsistencies are in terms of how people end up in the system with similar activities," Webb explained, reiterating his call for a high-level blue ribbon commission to reform the criminal justice system.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) denied allegations she reached out to the White House, Department of Justice, or members of the press to discuss the case of former AIPAC allegations facing criminal charges.
"I never called White House officials, Department of Justice officials, members of the press -- anyone," Harman told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Tuesday afternoon.
That statement conflicts with allegations contained in reports by the New York Times and Congressional Quarterly, in which Harman is said to have been incidentally recorded on wiretaps agreeing to talk to officials on behalf of the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
"I'm just very disappointed that my country...could have committed what I think is a gross abuse of Congress in recent years," she said, promising to "fight back" using her position as a long-serving member of Congress.
"Right now, somewhere, someone may be listening in on my conversations," she said.
President Obama praised CIA agents Monday during a speech at their Langley, Va. headquarters, calling them "indispensible" just days after releasing Bush administration memos outlining interrogation tactics practiced by the agency.
"I know the last few days have been difficult," Obama told CIA staff and agents. "I need to be clear: we will protect your identity and security as you vigorously pursue your missions."
"What makes the U.S. special and what makes you special is precisely the fact that we are willing to uphold our values and our ideals even when it's hard, not just when it's easy," the president said. "So yes, you've got harder jobs. And so do I. And that's okay. Because that's why we can take such extraordinary pride in being Americans."
The president called the CIA "an indispensible tool -- the tip of the spear" in thanking the agency for its intelligence support as his administration begins to reshape its foreign policy after almost 100 days in office.
Obama pledged to protect the identities of the agents and keep their intelligence and analysis confidential before drawing applause on a line about giving credit where it's due.
"You don't get credit when things go good, but you sure get some credit when things don't," Obama said to applause.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) is drawing fire for comments he made on Friday suggesting American Muslims don't cooperate with authorities.
In response to news that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had released a report warning of rightwing radicalism, King told MSNBC that DHS "has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police."
King, who is considering a Senate campaign in 2010, defended his comments over the weekend.
"The fact is, the Muslim community does not cooperate with law enforcement," King told Newsday.
This isn't the first time King has made controversial remarks about Muslims. In 2007, King landed in hot water for saying there were ""too many mosques in this country."
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.) will support a so-called "Truth Commission" investigation into Bush administration policies on domestic wiretapping and interrogation, despite indications from the Obama administration that those officials will not face prosecution.
Feingold said he would continue to fight for the establishment of an investigatory commission to look into policies outlined in memos released from the Bush adminsitration's Office of Legal Counsel.
A conservative legal group has filed suit against Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder over the DHS memo warning of the threat from "right wing extremists."
The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Thomas More Law Center said the policy reported this week targets certain individuals and groups for disfavored treatment based on their opinions on political issues.
The suit, filed on behalf of radio talk show host Michael Savage and the anti-abortion group Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, seeks a permanent injunction against the policies outlined in the memo, as well as attorneys' fees.
"The [policy] is a governmental attack on the reputations of Plaintiffs that is designed to marginalize them and their opposition to the policies and the practices of the federal government, particularly including their opposition to the policies and practices of the Obama administration," attorneys wrote in the filing.
The suit, seen here, was filed in southeast Michigan's federal court.
House Homeland Security Committee Ranking Member Peter King (R-N.Y.) is giving President Obama "a pass" for the memo circulated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warning of the risks posed by "right-wing extremists."
"I'm giving President Obama a pass on this for now," King said Thursday morning on MSNBC, adding that he's asked Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) to investigate the origins of the memo.
King suggested that the authors of the memo might come from the "liberal" and "biased" wing of the Democratic Party, and encouraged the administration to reject such figures.
Still, King largely made nice with the administration, encouraging Republicans to avoid demonizing the president. The cooperative talk could signal a precursor to a rumored Senate run in blue state New York by King.
"We've had now 17 years of this stuff just trying to tear down the president and demonizing," King said, praising Obama's decisions on Iraq and Afghanistan. "There was no reason to demonize Bill Clinton, no reason to demonize George Bush. And we should not be demonizing Barack Obama."
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized to veterans and other groups who read a DHS memo characterizing them as a possible domestic security risk, but said the memo's contents drew on past experience.
Republicans have taken aim at the memo, which warns of risks from "right-wing extremists," as being a politically motivated emination from the agency.
"They're not accusations. They are assessments based on what's happened in the past," she said during an appearance on CBS. "The contents of that report are not anything that's inconsistent with what we have seen in the past."
"There are a number of things that are part of the environment that law enforcement deals with on just the situational nature," Napolitano said Thursday morning during an appearance on Fox News. "That was something we were alerting people to."
Napolitano said that she had been briefed on the memo before it was sent out to local law enforcement, and said she most regretted a footnote that characterized Americans focused on a single issue like abortion or immigration as a potential risk.
"If there's one part of that report I would rewrite, in the word-smithing, Washington-ese that goes on after the fact, it would be that footnote," she said.
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