In his March 9 press briefing last month, White House press secretary Scott McClellan was asked whether Condi Rice would be allowed to testify before the 9/11 Commission. McClellan insisted that the Commission hasn’t fully appreciated or respected Rice’s efforts to cooperate in the past.
Dr. Rice sat down, was scheduled for I believe a two-hour interview — sat down for I think it was more than four hours that she actually visited with the commission. She was more than happy to visit with the commission. Only five members actually showed up, despite the fact that it was scheduled for the entire commission. You had another national security official under Dr. Rice who met with the commission and I think only four showed up.
McClellan raised a compelling point. If the Commission was truly interested in Rice’s perspective, then the full panel should have shown up for her preliminary interview. If the meeting was scheduled with the “entire commission,” as McClellan said, then why didn’t all of its members attend the interview?
Too bad McClellan was lying. Otherwise this argument might have made some sense.
As USA Today noted, McClellan left out one key detail and was completely wrong about another.
What McClellan didn’t tell reporters was that on Nov. 21 — long before Rice met with the five commissioners in February — the White House counsel’s office had sent the commission a letter saying no more than three commissioners could attend meetings with White House aides of Rice’s rank.
Given that demand, “we are a little surprised that the White House has repeatedly implied to the public that commissioners were uninterested in attending these meetings,” commission spokesman Al Felzenberg said Tuesday.
Commissioner Jamie Gorelick, who did not attend the interview with Rice on Feb. 7, said she finds it “infuriating” that the White House would insinuate commissioners shirked their duty and didn’t have a right to press for more time with Rice. “That’s hooey,” she said.
It’s as if the White House has some kind of untreatable condition that forces officials to resist cooperating with the 9/11 Commission at every stage of the process, not to mention lie uncontrollably about every detail.