House Judiciary Committee Member Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) recently pressed Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate National Intelligence Director James Clapper for allegedly lying to Congress while testifying before a committee.
Issa and six fellow Judiciary Committee members requested that Holder investigate testimony Clapper gave during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on domestic surveillance programs in March.
During the hearing, Clapper denied that the NSA collected data on “hundreds of millions of Americans.” Four months later, however, information leaked by Edward Snowden about domestic surveillance programs contradicted Clapper’s testimony.
“Director Clapper’s willful lie under oath fuels the unhealthy cynicism and distrust that citizens feel toward their government and undermines Congress’s ability to perform its Constitutional function,” the Judiciary Committee members said in a letter. “There are differences of opinion about the propriety of the NSA’s data collection programs. There can be no disagreement, however, on the basic premise that congressional witnesses must answer truthfully.”
Clapper retracted his remarks, called his response “erroneous” and issued an apology.
“Congressional oversight depends on truthful testimony – witnesses cannot be allowed to lie to Congress,” the legislators said. “Accordingly, we request you investigate Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s ‘erroneous’ statements to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence earlier this year.”