Rep. Disputes CIA Official’s Claim of Implicit Authority to Destroy Tapes
A senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee says the CIA official who ordered the destruction of videotapes of harsh interrogations acted in apparent defiance of a direction to preserve the tapes.
U.S. Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan spoke after top CIA lawyer John Rizzo testified before the committee in a closed-door hearing, the New York Times reports. Hoekstra said Jose Rodriguez Jr., head of the CIA’s clandestine division, had not gotten the authority to destroy the tapes. “Matter of fact, it appears that he got direction to make sure the tapes were not destroyed,” Hoekstra said.
Rodriguez’s lawyer, Robert Bennett, had told the Washington Post that Rodriguez was never expressly ordered not to destroy the tapes, leading him to believe he had implicit approval.
The committee chairman, Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said Rizzo provided “highly detailed” responses to the committee’s questions, the Washington Post reports.
