Heh.
While the rest of the Primaryosphere is out trying to figure out if there's going to be an Oprah Bounce, Joe Biden took up his seat at the interview table and raised the ante re: the destruction of those "interrogation" tapes.
As C&L is reporting Biden spoke with George Stephanopolous on This Week...
Senator Joe Biden appeared on This Week today and made his positions on the CIA torture tape scandal very clear. Biden says he he not only thinks the destruction of the CIA tapes constitutes obstruction of justice, he believes the scandal goes straight to the White House. He also makes it clear that he doesn’t trust Attorney General Michael Mukasey and calls for an independent special prosecutor to take over the case.
Senator Biden also lays out some truth about Bush’s rhetoric on Iran and their now-defunct nuclear weapons program.
According to Joe, Director Hayden of Fourth Amendment fame:
is trying to claim that it's lawful to destroy the tapes that they were told not to destroy.
Huh?
Here's part of his argument:
When he disclosed the destruction of the two tapes on Thursday, CIA Director Hayden said the tapes were destroyed because they "posed a serious security risk." He added: "Were they ever to leak, they would permit identification of [CIA officers] who had served in the program, exposing them and their families to retaliation from al-Qa'ida and its sympathizers."
Meanwhile over on Face the Nation:
Sens. John Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, and Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" that Congress should conduct the probe, not an independent counsel. "I don't think there's a need for a special counsel, and I don't think there's a need for a special commission," said Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Even as Senator Rockefeller isn't sure about the need for a Special Prosecutor Senator Hagel points out that
"Burning tapes, destroying evidence, I don't know how deep this goes," said Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on CBS's "Face the Nation." "Could there be obstruction of justice? Yes," he said. "How far does this go up into the White House? I don't know."
Joe: "This is just the Nixon administration without the competence..."