McConnell: Larry King Is Better Interrogator Than FBI

Leading Republican senators stepped up their attacks on the administration Thursday for its handling of the interrogation of the Christmas Day bomber. And in the process, they criticized the work of law enforcement officials.

Appearing on Fox News, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) accused the president of treating Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab "as if he had robbed a convenience store." But in a dig at the FBI interrogators overseeing the interrogations, the Kentucky Republican compared their work to that of longtime softball interviewer CNN's Larry King.

"He was given a 50-minute interrogation," said McConnell. "Probably Larry King has interrogated people longer and better than that, after which he was assigned a lawyer who told him to shut up. That is not the way to deal with a person in the war on terror."

McConnell's remark may make for an effective sound bite. But with regards to the intersection of politics and national security, it is an envelope-pushing charge.

For the past several weeks, Republicans have been overly willing to charge that the president and the Department of Justice erred in their decision to put Abdulmutallab through the criminal court system rather than the military alternative. Few of them, however, have directly taken on law enforcement agents.

The entire debate seemed to fizzle this week after it was reported that, under George W. Bush's Department of Justice, another terrorist suspect (shoe bomber Richard Reid) was also read his Miranda rights. Republicans also were caught off guard after the Obama White House leaked the news that Abdulmutallab was talking to interrogators and providing useful information.

But rather than backing off their criticisms, it seems that GOP officials have chosen to shout them even louder. Hours before McConnell went on the air, fellow Republican Senator Kit Bond of Missouri wrote a letter to the president saying he was "deeply disturbed" that the administration was leaking "vital national security information regarding the recent cooperation by the Christmas Day bomber Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab." The Missouri Republican said that FBI Director Bob Mueller had "personally stressed to me that keeping the fact of his cooperation quiet was vital to preventing future attacks against the United States."

The White House swiftly refuted Bond's account, insisting it would never release information that "could endanger an operation" and demanding that the senator himself apologize to people in the White House and in law enforcement.

Comments

[fromdnorth]

01:54 AM on 02/17/2010

izekman posted...
Mcconnell is a coward like most of his Republican colleagues. big on talk and no substance. read:

Controversy exists as to the reason for his discharge, at a time when troops were being sent to Vietnam for combat duty. John Cooper, a U.S. Senator from Kentucky (for whom McConnell had interned) wrote a letter in August 1967 to the commanding general at Fort Knox, asking when McConnell would be "cleared" from active duty so as to attend New York University. The registrar's office at NYU has no record of McConnell applying or registering for classes; further, he had already been graduated from the University of Kentucky with a law degree before enlisting in the reserve. According to a former campaign manager, McConnell received a medical discharge for optic neuritis (a symptom of multiple sclerosis), which is usually curable within 3-4 weeks and is not by itself a reason for discharge, according to Dr. Timothy Allen, the former Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. military. McConnell has declined to be interviewed regarding this issue, or to release medical records.

[meena140]

09:39 PM on 02/07/2010

McConnell has he had a face job? His face is so tight and is it blush on his plum cheeks?

[ekoorb]

11:08 PM on 02/07/2010

He's so full of botox that nothing moves above the eyelid.

[castironstrawbreaker]

01:24 PM on 02/06/2010

How do you keep a bully off you? You walk up to them and punch them in the nose. That's what the Administration needs to do to these bullies.

[bigbluenat4]

04:00 PM on 02/05/2010

so NOW the GOP are criticizing the American intelligence agencies? By their logic, isn't that "UN-American"? why are they FOR T. Errorism?

[pennlady]

03:49 PM on 02/05/2010

. Its more of the same coming from the GOP . Its all be afraid , be very afraid. I hope by now most citizens have seen through their scare tactics.

[Ron1951]

03:41 PM on 02/05/2010

...and Mickey Mouse would be a better Senate Minority leader than McConnell, a senator who has never met an earmark he didn't like.

[directfitz]

03:35 PM on 02/05/2010

If this Senator has any cajones then let him go on Larry King and FBI and get back to us on which worked better. And since he's spending US taxpayers money wasting his time on this we get to know the information that each got from him.

[jsgaetano]

02:13 PM on 02/05/2010

So now the Goopers are advocating replacing the FBI with Larry King?

No wonder 9/11 happened on their watch.

[gericare77]

01:51 PM on 02/05/2010

Rewriting History - Why You Need To Hide Your Wallet
As the health care reform debate limps on, the Republicans are attempting, with some degree of success, to rewrite history and prepare the way for big businesses to drain your wallets, silently targeting seniors for an extra-special shakedown. Aware that some of the public still remembers that their party was in power in the eight years leading up to the financial meltdown they’re sending out an endless stream of messages about big, growing government, increasing taxes and a growing budget deficit. It’s time for some fact [...]
http://silverbuzzcafe.com/?p=7887

[Sandmanj]

01:49 PM on 02/05/2010

McConnell: Larry King is a better interrogator than the FBI.

The World: Gollum is a better human being than Mitch McConnell.

[Hoosierbrad]

01:48 PM on 02/05/2010

All I can think is, why do these Republicans hate there country?

[Hoosierbrad]

01:48 PM on 02/05/2010

Sorry, why do they hate their country?

[Tom95134]

01:31 PM on 02/05/2010

And Rachael Maddow would be a better Senator than Mitch McConnell.

[jazzycafe]

01:11 PM on 02/05/2010

This kind of rhetoric from McConnell......shouldn't it outrage Dick & Liz Cheney?

[StopMakingSense2]

01:06 PM on 02/05/2010

More deep thoughts from the party of no ideas. If your going to be ignorant flaunt it I guess.. What's it like to have to lie from sun up to sun down to keep your job?

[patsydecline]

12:43 PM on 02/05/2010

As empty vessels make the loudest sound, so they that have least with are the greatest babblers.-Plato