Senator Dismisses Claim Her 'Emotional' Views Compromised a Report on Torture

In response to comments from former CIA and National Security Agency director Michael Hayden that she may have compromised a report on CIA interrogation tactics because of her "emotional" views about the issue, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein has one word: "Nonsense," she told reporters in the Capitol Monday.

"I have no doubt that there are very powerful people who don't want this report out, but what was said was just absolute nonsense," Feinstein added.

The Intelligence panel voted 11-3 last week to declassify portions of the report that details the CIA's interrogation and detention program between 2001 and 2009. Hayden said over the weekend that Feinstein may have been motivated by her personal feelings to change the program, pointing to her statement that the declassification "would ensure an un-American, brutal program of detention and interrogation will never again be considered or permitted."

"That sentence, that motivation for the report, may show deep, emotional feeling on the part of the senator," Hayden said on Fox News on Sunday. "But I don't think it leads you to an objective report."

Other lawmakers have already decried Hayden's comments. On Monday, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called them "simply outrageous."