Sen. Frist Probes 'Appalling' Clarke for Perjury

Did Richard Clarke perjure himself this week before the 9/11 commission? Congressional Republicans hope to prove so by declassifying his testimony before the House and Senate intelligence committees in July 2002.

"Mr. Clarke has told two entirely different stories under oath," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said in a fiery speech today on the Senate floor.

The Tennessee Republican said that Clarke was "the only common denominator" across 10 years of terrorist attacks that began with the first attack on the World Trade Center.

He accused Clarke of "an appalling act of profiteering" by cashing in on a book that exploited insider information about the worst terrorist attacks in America's history.

And Frist accused him of making a "theatrical apology" to the families of the terrorist victims before his testimony Wednesday, which was not "his right, his privilege or his responsibility" to do so.

"Mr. Clarke can and will answer for his own conduct, but that is all," the senator said.

He noted that Clarke's testimony in 2002 was "effusive in his praise for the actions of the Bush administration" and that Clarke had praised the administration's successes to reporters in 2002.

Though Clarke has tried to play down his earlier praise of Bush, Frist said, "Loyalty to any administration will be no defense if it is found that he has lied to Congress."

The Associated Press reported today, "No immediate information was available on how the declassification process works, but one GOP aide said the CIA and perhaps the White House would play a role in determining whether to make the testimony public."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan took a separate jab at Clarke today. "With every new assertion he makes, every revision of his past comments, he only further undermines his credibility."

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