A top House Democrat on Tuesday defended President Obama’s deputy national security adviser from Republican accusations that he worked to spin a false story about the Iran nuclear agreement in order to get it through Congress, and charged the GOP with hypocrisy for inviting a former Bush administration official who helped build the case for the invasion of Iraq.

The White House refused to provide Ben Rhodes for questioning before a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing to explain comments he made in a New York Times magazine piece, which indicated that he used journalists to create an “echo chamber” to help sell the Iran deal to Congress and the American public.