Democrats are seething today after Republicans told the press about classified intelligence gleaned in a closed-door briefing about interrogation techniques. GOP members told the Hill they were informed that harsh techniques led to information that prevented terrorist attacks. That led Democrats to blast their rivals for disclosing secret information, triggering a full political brawl.
"I came away with a very clear impression that we did gather information that did disrupt terrorist plots,” said the GOP's John Kline. "Now that they know what they’ve got, they don’t want to talk about it," added fellow Republican Pete Hoekstra of Democrats. But Jan Schakowsky, chair of the intelligence subcommittee, said she was "absolutely shocked" and called the disclosures "a violation of the rules. It may be more than that." Democrats said they could not respond in detail because of the meeting's secrecy.
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