Chris Van Hollen: “in the critical debate about the balance between national security and rights to privacy, the truth must be paramount.…”

“in the critical debate about the balance between national security and rights to privacy, the truth must be paramount. Time and again, President Trump has misled the American public about national security matters, including torture, surveillance, and intelligence. Trump has claimed that ``torture works'' and that ``we should go much stronger than waterboarding,'' despite widespread evidence that enhanced interrogation techniques are not effective in acquiring intelligence or gaining cooperation from detainees. Without any evidence, President Trump alleged that President Obama illegally wiretapped the phones of Trump Towers. Former FBI Director James Comey soundly rejected this conspiracy theory, a statement that likely played a role in his firing. President Trump repeatedly dismissed intelligence that Russia interfered in our 2016 elections and derided our intelligence community for its assessments. His rejection of truth, to stoke fear and resentment in the American public, is unethical and dangerous. It is a threat to American freedoms. In this extraordinary environment, the CIA's leadership must not only provide objective and sound intelligence assessments to the President, it must faithfully ensure that the President is adhering to the law. The role of the General Counsel is particularly critical at this moment, when our sitting President has openly denounced or displayed alarming ignorance of existing laws on intelligence matters.…”