Behind The Mic With Joe Mathieu: Senator Goes Public With CIA Spat

BOSTON (CBS) – What happened in Washington Tuesday is unheard of.

A veteran lawmaker accusing the CIA of spying on the very Senate committee that's charged with investigating the agency.

And in most public fashion.

Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) delivered a 45-minute speech on the Senate floor, calling-out the CIA for allegedly snooping in the Senate Intelligence Committee's computer systems as the committee prepares a sensitive report looking into CIA interrogation practices following 9/11.

Sen. Feinstein, who has been a cheerleader for U.S. intelligence, says the agency secretly removed documents from an archive that lawmakers were using to prepare this report.

CIA Director John Brennan denies the allegations.

But Sen. Feinstein calls it "a defining moment" for Congress' role in overseeing our intelligence agencies which were already on the ropes for tracking our phone and internet use.

The pending report is classified. But reports say it's 6,000 pages and shows the CIA misled Congress, the White House and the Department of Justice and overstated the effectiveness of its interrogation program before it was discontinued in 2009.

And while the CIA has asked for corrections in the report, Sen. Feinstein says she will move to make it public later this month.

Follow Joe on Twitter @joemathieuwbz

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