Senator Reid Talks about Secret Senate Session

By David Brody
Capitol HIll Correspondent

CBN.com – WASHINGTON - Democratic Sen. Joseph Biden says he does not expect a filibuster over Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito.

In an exclusive interview with CBN News, Senate Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid sat down to talk about Alito's nomination, as well as his bold move last week to send the Senate into a rare secret session.

Maybe this week will be calmer in the U.S. Senate. Then again, maybe not. Reid livened up the place last Tuesday when he marched onto the Senate floor and pulled a most unusual move.

"In accordance with Rule 21, I now move that the Senate now go into closed session," Reid said.

Reid sent the Senate into a secret session. All 100 senators met behind closed doors with no cameras; the topic was pre-war intelligence. Reid and the Democrats are frustrated - they say that the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee Pat Roberts (R-KS) was dragging his feet, and should be investigating the White House more thoroughly.

Many Democrats believe that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence information just so they could build a case for war in Iraq.

"I did it because I thought it was the best thing for the American people,” Reid said. “I support the troops in Iraq, I voted for the war in Iraq, but I believe the information that was given to me prior to my vote was manipulated. It was wrong. It's clear there were no weapons of mass destruction; it's clear there was no al-Qaeda connection; it's clear there were no terrorists in Iraq -- and on and on, and the American people deserve these answers."

Republicans say this is a case of bad intelligence, not White House dishonesty, and that their investigation was moving forward. Roberts, the intelligence chairman, came on the 700 Club last week to blast Reid's conspiracy theory speech that he gave on the Senate floor.

Indeed, since that secret session, Reid has been taking plenty of verbal shots from Republicans.

CBN NEWS: This was called a political stunt. Someone said it was a meltdown on the part of the Democrats, and Senator Roberts even said, and I'll quote this to you, "If you look at the whole speech done by Harry Reid -- it is a diatribe. It is like Howard Dean without a rabies shot."

REID: Well, that's very common for Pat Roberts to name-call. We try not to do that in the Senate and Pat Roberts is a person who has neglected his duties, and I've said in the past he's neglected them because of anything dealing with intelligence in this country. His orders have to come from the vice president. He didn't get those orders, so he couldn't do that.

The hard feelings do not stop there. When Senator Reid decided to close down the Senate to discuss pre-war intelligence, he never consulted Republican Majority Leader Bill Frist, something that is customary in the Senate.

Reid knew Frist would not allow it, but it infuriated Frist nonetheless.

Frist remarked, "Not with the previous Democratic leader or the current Democratic leader have ever I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution."

"I can't trust Senator Reid and that's hard," Frist acknowledged.

CBN NEWS: In the heat of the moment, some things were said. He, at one point, said he couldn't trust you for the next year and a half.

REID: Well, that's certainly up to him. I trust him. Whether he likes me or not, he has to work with me. That's just the way it is.

This partisan flare up does not come at a good time. Tensions were already high because of the Senate fight over some of President Bush's conservative judicial nominees. Now, of course, Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito is being considered. And his conservative credentials could possibly be filibuster material for Democrats.

Reid commented, "I think it's way too early to talk about what's going to happen with Judge Alito…Let's wait before the evidence is in before people start determining what they are going to do with the vote."

Special interest groups are gearing up for a fight to the death. But it may not come. Reid seemed to hint that, unlike failed Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, there have been no missteps so far for Alito.

CBN NEWS: Are there grumblings about Alito? Can you give us a sense of what the real deal is here?

REID: I think a number of Democrats are disappointed with Judge Alito on the surface. I think that's changed a little bit by those of us who have had conversations with him.

But clearly Democrats wanted the President to choose a moderate to replace a moderate like Sandra Day O’Connor. Republicans have insisted all along that it should not be that way. They point to how former President Clinton nominated liberal Ruth Bader Ginsberg to replace conservative Byron White on the Supreme Court in 1993.

Sen. Mike DeWine(R-OH) remarked, "There's no one that ever said that there's an obligation to match ideology from one judge that comes off the court to the new judge. I mean that would be a ridiculous thing."

"I think the President should find somebody that is a moderate and somebody that I think is in keeping with the standards of American jurisprudence, and we have to find out with Alito if that, in fact, is the case," Reid affirmed.

The Alito battle will be the major headliner. But throw in the pre-war intelligence controversy plus a host of other divisive legislative issues, and what you have is the potential for the atmosphere here on Capitol Hill to get worse before it gets any better.

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