Thomas Daschle: “The real question is, How do we assert the facts in the most logical and the most bipartisan manner? As we have seen on…”

“The real question is, How do we assert the facts in the most logical and the most bipartisan manner? As we have seen on so many other occasions, the only way to ensure that is done with a public review of the information provided and all of the facts available to us is through this independent approach. The Intelligence Committee has done an outstanding job. I commend them for their session, even this afternoon as we speak, looking into the facts as they are presented from those within the intelligence community. As Senator Rockefeller has noted on several occasions, they are constrained by their own understandable jurisdictional review and do not have the capacity to go beyond that jurisdictional review when issues involving other branches of the Government, other agencies of the executive branch, and certainly the White House itself, are involved. So this affords an opportunity to do the right thing, to give the American people the confidence they need that we understand now what the facts are, what the story is, and how we can ensure as we make these judgments we are doing so with the very best policy and goals in mind.”