House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said the White House doesn’t necessarily have to confess to killing American citizens by unarmed drones.
It all depends on the situation, she said in reply to a Huffington Post reporter who asked if President Obama’s administration should acknowledge when it targets a U.S. citizen in a drone strike, the Washington Examiner reported.
“Maybe, it just depends,” she reportedly said. “People just want to be protected.” She also said that such disclosure “depends on the timing, because that’s right — it’s all about the timing.”
At least one Republican House colleague is outraged.
“Anytime the government willfully executes a citizen, regardless of the circumstances, it is a very serious issue,” said Rep. Mike Lee, from Utah, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee who spoke with the Examiner. “As the body that oversees executive branch actions, at the very least, Congress should have a full accounting — even if it must sometimes be in a classified setting — of the specific considerations that went into the decision.”
Mrs. Pelosi said her views would be the same even if a Republican held the White House, according to the Examiner.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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