Rep. Mike Rogers: ‘Torture’ probe ‘not a bipartisan report’

“It was only done by the Democrats and the Democrats’ staff,” Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “The methodology is being questioned. No interviews, not one person [from the Central Intelligence Agency] was interviewed for the report, in their release of the report. So I think that does cloud people’s judgment as this might not be the definitive report. And think about this, now you have the EU talking about prosecutions of the people involved, the United Nations is talking about investigations and prosecutions. This, I think, was a very, very difficult time when we were a nation at war.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., released the so-called torture report last week, sparking a debate on Capitol Hill about how the revelations would affect U.S. national security.

Behind closed doors, the Obama administration pressured Feinstein’s committee to both delay and limit some of the details in the report. However, President Obama ultimately endorsed the release of the report.

Yet, Republicans such as Rogers said there was no point in putting the spotlight on practices that have since been banned.

“When you looked at what the risks were, and remember we had done that, the Department of Justice found no criminal wrongdoing,” said the outgoing congressman. “The fact that we had already debated this publicly in Congress and talked about what we weren’t going to do and what our values were when it came to interrogation, passed a law, that we’d use the Army Field Manual. It’s against the law now to do these things.”

And Rogers expressed concerns about U.S. installations overseas being targeted in the wake of the report’s disclosures.

“What I do know is that the risk is ongoing and very real, and it will take time,” Rogers said. “I think we’ll see a consequence of the release of this report.”