Reyes on Sudden White House Generosity: “I Don’t Know Why”Here’s House intelligence committee Chair Silvestre Reyes’ entire statement on the White House’s sudden decision to allow them access to documents concerning the warrantless surveillance program:
“I have pushed for eight months to review this material… I don’t know why the White House refused to give us access. Now we will be able to view documents used to set up the President’s warrantless wiretapping program.”
With the battle over retroactive immunity in the Senate looking pretty good for the administration, they’re no doubt looking to the House as the next battleground. And they apparently decided that it would help if they shared a little. They certainly haven’t suddenly been struck with a love of inter-branch comity.
As for House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-MI), he decided that this was an offer he couldn’t refuse — ten Dems on his committee and nine Republicans will get to see the docs, an apparently arbitrarily limitation — but he remains “disappointed,” he said, that the administration is still withholding some documents from this and other programs.