Today, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe dismissed a report by the Washington Post that claimed Bush aides were resisting the open testimony of Gen. David Petraeus. “General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will testify to the Congress in both open as well as closed sessions prior to the September 15th report,” he said. “That has always been our intention.” Apparently, that message hasn’t been communicated to Congress:
[A]ides to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., said negotiations between congressional leaders and the administration to open the hearings were still ongoing.
“We are in talks with the administration now,” Levin’s aide said, adding that Levin had been pushing for an open hearing but no agreement had been reached.
An aide to Foreign Relations Committee ranking Republican Richard Lugar of Indiana said his committee staff was communicating directly with Petraeus’ staff to discuss how the general’s views would be shared with members of Congress.
Lugar’s staff was not coordinating its efforts with Levin’s office, according to the aide, but neither office was under the impression that the White House had agreed to open testimony before Johndroe spoke.
UPDATE: Crooks and Liars notes that Chris Matthews called the “Petraeus report” for what it actually is — the White House report.
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