Fellow Senators Call For Kerry To Release Attendance At Private Intelligence Committee Hearings

George W. Bush ^ | August 17, 2004

[RWR8189]

The Kerry Line: Fellow Senators Call For Kerry To Release Attendance At Private Intelligence Committee Hearings

(title edited for length)

"John Kerry served on the Intelligence Committee from 1993 to 2000, and according to official records, John Kerry missed 76 percent of the public Senate Intelligence Committee hearings during that time. This figure doesn’t include his attendance at closed door meetings. Those records can only be released to the public at John Kerry’s request. This is something that needs to be done, and I join Senator Roberts, Senator Chambliss, Senator Cornyn, and Senator Coleman and others in calling on him to do so, so that the American people can judge the whole picture for themselves."

-Speaker Dennis Hastert, U.S. House of Representatives

Fellow Senators Call For Kerry To Release Attendance At Private Intelligence Committee Hearings

Chairman Of The Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) Says Kerry And Edwards Should Ask For The Release Of Their Attendance Records At Public And Private Hearings. SEN. ROBERTS: "The easiest way out of this is for John Kerry and John Edwards to request of Senator Rockefeller and myself to release the attendance hearings; not only the public hearings, which they have rebutted, but the closed hearings." (NBC's "Meet The Press," 8/15/04)

Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Member Sen. John Warner (R-VA) Says Kerry Should Simply Release The Attendance Records If He Disputes The Bush-Cheney Ad. SEN. WARNER: "So I would go to what is solid, uncontrovertible fact, and that is the records that each committee keeps with regard to the attendance at every hearing of all the members, whether they're there or not. Now, those records are available. John Kerry, if he questions the authenticity of this ad that's out there now, should simply get those records and put them into the public domain." (CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer," 8/15/04)

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) Calls On Kerry And Edwards To Release Records Of Their Attendance At Private Intelligence Committee Hearings. SEN CORNYN: "So I would like to call on Senator Edwards and Senator Kerry today to publicly release their attendance records at the private, or classified, hearing on the intelligence committee so the American people can really know the truth." (Republican National Committee And Bush-Cheney '04, "Transcript Of Thursday, July 29, 10:30 a.m. Republican Press Conference," Press Release, 7/29/04)

Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Member Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) Hopes That Kerry And Edwards Release Their Attendance Records At Private Intelligence Committee Hearings. SEN. CHAMBLISS: "The fact of the matter is, even though he claims to have gained a lot of that expertise by serving on the senate intelligence committee, during his eight years of service on the intelligence committee there were forty-nine public hearings held by the intelligence committee, and John Kerry was absent from thirty-eight of those forty-nine hearings. That does not include the classified hearings. ... And I would hope that he would agree to release to you the record of his attendance at meetings and hearings of the Senate Intelligence committee over the last year and a half, or his total service on that committee." (Republican National Committee And Bush-Cheney '04, "Transcript of Wednesday, July 28, 10 a.m. Republican Press Conference," Press Release, 7/28/04)

Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) Calls On Kerry To Release His Attendance Records. “The other illustration of lack of leadership with regard to this issue is the question of the intelligence. And since I served on the Intelligence Committee with Senator Kerry for eight years I believe, I call for him to disclose his attendance at the briefings and hearings of the Intelligence Committee. The classified briefings and hearings of course are not on our public record, but he could make his attendance public. He missed 38 out of 49 of the public hearings, and those are the hearings most people want to be seen at, but he missed those. John Edwards was on the Committee and came on later, and he missed half of the public hearings as well. But I think that they should both disclose their record of attendance in the Intelligence Committee.” (Bush-Cheney ’04, “Remarks By U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl And U.S. Rep. Scott McInnis During Today's Bush-Cheney '04 Conference Call,” Press Release, 8/7/04)

Kerry's Missed Public Intelligence Committee Meetings

While On Committee, Kerry Missed 38 Of 49 Public Intelligence Committee Hearings. During John Kerry's eight years of service on the Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence, there were 49 open, public hearings. Of these 49, John Kerry attended just 11 (22.4%). Among the most notable of those he missed is the June 8, 2000, hearing on the report of the National Commission on Terrorism, which warned about the terrorist threat we now face and recommended numerous steps to address that threat (few of which were adopted prior to 9/11/01).

In 1994, Kerry Missed Every Committee Hearing (Bob Kerrey Attended All Of The Hearings That Year), Including A Hearing On The Report Of The Joint Security Commission, Which Warned, In Part: "The bombing of the World Trade Center and the assassination of two CIA employees in Virginia heightened our sensitivity to the fact that terrorist activities against Americans can occur domestically as well as abroad." ("Redefining Security: A Report To The Secretary Of Defense And The Director Of Central Intelligence," U.S. Joint Security Commission, 2/28/94)

Kerry's Proposed Intelligence Cuts

Sen. DeConcini Claimed Kerry Would Cut Intel By $6 Billion Over Six Years: "Mr. President, the Kerry amendment includes a $1 billion cut in fiscal year 1994 and $5 billion over the next 5 years from intelligence activities." (Sen. Dennis DeConcini [D-AZ], Congressional Record, 2/10/94, p. S1360)

[b4its2late]

There's that VRWC at it again....

[cricket]

What did John Kerry's constituency think he was doing all these years?

There surely should be some rule re attendence. Three strikes and your 'out'. . .something.

[NavySEAL F-16]

Did I just not see McCain's name?

[AZamericonnie]

Surely this will all be exposed (for those who pay no attention) during the debates.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I just wrote a lengthy post on another thread discussing Kerry's response to ads about his attendance. link

[Protect the Bill of Rights]

Damned Republicans--should be called "Senators for Bush"

(/sarcasm)

[Westbrook]

Kerry will get a pass from the press and his pie-eyed faithful among the electorate.

Count on it.

If there are any "undecided" voters left, they are the only ones who stand to be influenced one way or another by the facts proving Kerry to be a poseur, imposter, liar, malfunctional and even malfeasant.

[Prost1]

Senator John Kyl: "He missed 38 out of 49 of the public hearings, and those are the hearings most people want to be seen at, but he missed those."

But not John Kerry. Not when he knew Bob Kerrey would be there and he could pretend to be Bob.

And this guy is leading the popular polls? America is in trouble....

[gunnedah]

It is amazing what politicians can cover up and they are drawing taxpayer dollars. Their retirement packages and benefits are hidden. They don't have to show up for work unless they wish to and everything they do can be kept on the sly. Americans need to take our government back and kick these slimeball good old boys out.The rest of the world is correct in their assumptions of our government when they call us evil and we allow it so I guess we are no different. We cant take exception when they call us evil. Our government has overthrown the Mafia.

[Tacis]

Another blatant attempt by the Republican attack dogs to undermine the fine record of Senator Kerry, a decorated Viet Nma War hero. I certainly hope he doesn't dignify this unwaranted and mean-spirited attack by responding in any way.

My bet is that he was unable to attend all these silly meeting because he was out hustling some wealthy stuff (if you know what I mean)

[kingattax]

why do the American people tolerate this ? and when are we going to demand a return to constitutional government ?

[soozla]

LET'S ROLL!!!!

It's coming at him from all sides!!!!!!!

[tobyhill]

After 19 years of being a no-show, wouldn't the citizens of Massachusetts be questioning how their tax-dollars are spent?

[MamaLucci]

Talk about an empty suit........as another freeper put it, Kerry is the Seinfeld of the Senate. He's had a political career about nothing.

[foreshadowed at waco]

On a thread here about 2 months ago someone referred to Kerry/ Edwards as Empty Suit and Lawsuit...LOL!

[pieces of time]

What baffles me more than Kerry running on his Viet Nam record and why he is running at all - why are people supporting this fraud? We saw the fruits of Clinton's ineptitude immediately following his departure from the White House. Kerry's is showing now and people are still backing him. This guy is BS from start to finish.