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“What would you have had me do?” she hissed at him.
“Maybe nothing.” He shrugged, “I warned you from the outset not to rush into this.”
“Well, I disagree. We are a nation of laws. We can’t have animals like Rapp running around doing whatever the hell they want.”
“That’s a lovely platitude. Would you prefer the terrorists run around and do whatever they like?”
“You are so damn infuriating sometimes.”
Wassen looked over the top of her head and said, “This is why I kept my mouth shut. You don’t want to hear what I have to say.”
“Not on this issue. That’s for sure.” Lonsdale turned and entered the committee room. A few of her colleagues wanted a word with her, but she brushed them off and took her seat. After a quick look up and down the bench she gaveled them back into session.
CHAPTER 59
RAPP sat at the witness table and tried to follow what was going on. The various esteemed members of the committee seemed to be in great disagreement over how they should proceed. Even a few members of Lonsdale’s own party were upset by the fact that she had rushed them headlong into this. Rapp wondered how they would react when he dropped the next bomb on them.
Finally, after a good ten minutes of wrangling, Lonsdale looked down and said, “Mr. Rapp, I would like to remind you that you are still under oath.”
Rapp nodded.
“Speak into the microphone,” she snapped, her patience used up by the bickering of colleagues.
“I am aware that I am still under oath.”
Looking like she was afraid that someone might try to make another motion, Lonsdale quickly asked, “Do you deny striking Abu Haggani while he was bound and in U.S. custody?”
The room went completely silent and all eyes turned to Rapp, who was again alone at the witness table. It all comes down to this, Rapp thought. Give them something and let them know you’re serious. “Madam Chairman, I will gladly answer all of your questions truthfully and to the best of my ability if you will clear the chamber of everyone except you and your fellow committee members.”
Before anyone could react, Lonsdale snorted and said, “That is not going to happen.”
Rapp nodded as if to say fine and then said, “Then you will leave me with no choice but to exercise my Fifth Amendment right.”
Lonsdale sensed the stirring on both the left and the right. Ignoring the chatter, she said, “Mr. Rapp, you are not in control of this committee.” She gestured to the nearly fifty staffers sitting behind the nineteen members. “These people have all passed stringent background checks, and I am deeply offended that you would call into question their integrity.”
Rapp could spend the rest of the morning arguing with her about the leaks that came out of this committee and every other one on the Hill, but that wasn’t what he was here for. He looked back at Lonsdale with a face that said, You have to be kidding me, and said, “Madam Chairman, in light of the fact that I am offering to answer all of your questions truthfully and honestly, I think it is a reasonable request.”
The vice chair reached over and pulled Lonsdale in for a quiet conference. Rapp watched as both members covered their microphones with their hands and eagerly chatted in each other’s ear. After nearly a minute of back and forth, Lonsdale returned to her microphone and cleared her throat.
“Mr. Rapp, we would be willing to entertain a motion to clear the room of everyone except committee members and yourself, including your delegation from the CIA, but I want to be crystal clear on your offer. You will make no attempt to evade our questions or invoke your Fifth Amendment right…is that correct?”
“That is correct. On issues pertaining to the matter before us, I will answer all of your questions truthfully and to the best of my ability.”
Lonsdale and the vice chair covered their microphones again and began whispering. Rapp was betting on two things. The first was that Lonsdale had already been smacked by England, and she would not want her day to end in a defeat the town would be talking about for weeks. The second, he was betting on the collective hubris of the committee. Any of them would be sure of their ability to rip him to shreds in a proceeding like this. Together, all nineteen members would be fearless in the face of one man.
As Rapp had hoped, Lonsdale emerged from her conference and ordered that the room be cleared of everyone with the exception of the witness and the committee members. Rapp did not bother to turn around and look at his departing colleagues. Kennedy knew what was going on, and for now, the others did not need to be involved to this extent. Rapp was about to go way out on a limb and there was no sense in sending more than one person into the dangerous situation.
Lonsdale looked around to make sure everyone was gone. The large room seemed massive now that it was just the twenty of them. She wondered briefly if this had ever been done before. It happened on the Intelligence Committee from time to time, but she was not aware of the Judiciary Committee ever having met in such a manner. She looked down at Rapp and was surprised to see that he too appeared nervous for the first time all morning.
“Mr. Rapp, I would like to warn you…if I get the slightest sense that you are lying to me or any other member of this committee, I will…”
“I hit the prisoner,” Rapp said clearly into the microphone. He knew he needed to give them something; show them that he had not made an empty promise. He also had no desire to sit there and listen to another round of threats form Lonsdale.
“So you are admitting to striking a bound prisoner?”
“He was not bound at the time, but I did strike him.”
“I’m not sure that makes any difference. He was in our custody.”
