Pelosi On Interrogation Investigations: "I don’t think there should be total immunity"

By Kayleigh Harvey - Talk Radio News Service

At her weekly press conference, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was asked about her opinion on the prosecutions of those who gave orders for interrogations to be carried out. Pelosi said, “I don’t think there should be total immunity, I think it should be a case by case basis maybe there are some cases where immunity is appropriate, maybe there are some cases where it is not. But I don't think that we should just say that everyone who comes into that room takes an immunity bath, just because they showed up that day they have immunity for everything else."

Listen

Smith defends Karl Rove's immunity

Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) says that the president’s immediate advisers have been immune from Congressional testimony since the presidency of George Washington, adding that Karl Rove is the definition of an immediate adviser and that his assertion of immunity should be expected by anyone familiar with historical precedence. (0:40)
Listen

Leader Hoyer: “We want to protect America”

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) says that the court decides whether immunity is granted, not the legislation. Hoyer also says that the U.S. knows that there are “people out there who want to harm us,” so the government needs to intercept their conversations in order to protect America. (1:11)
Listen

Attorney General says government immunity limited

Attorney General Mukasey says that government employees do not get immunity unless they received a direct notification from the government and the president that they were being asked to do something "that was lawful and that served national security," or they were unaware of their involvement. (1:11)

Listen

ACLU describes the immunity provisions in the FISA revision passed by the Senate

Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU, explains that the new law provides immunity to companies who provided call information even if they knew the requests by the government were illegal. (0:44)
Listen

ACLU says administration attempt to keep warrantless wiretapping out of court is "extremely dangerous for democracy"

Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the Washington Legislative Office of the ACLU, reacts to Attorney General Mukasey's comments yesterday before the Senate Judiciary Committee that the telecommunications companies should be granted immunity in order to keep the president's warrantless wiretapping program out of the courts. Frederickson says insulating these kinds of activity from accountability would damage us as a nation. Moreover, courts are equipped to handle sensitive and classified information. (1:46)
Listen