ROLL CALL: Foreign Relations Leaders Still Question Human Trafficking Report.
The State Department still has some explaining to do after a closed briefing Thursday with Senate Foreign Relations Committee members over allegations that a report vital to several administration initiatives was watered down for political purposes.
Committee members have cried politics since July when the annual Trafficking in Persons report was released. After Thursday’s briefing, senators called for more transparency in the process that saw Malaysia and Cuba upgraded from the lowest ranking in terms of human-trafficking conditions.
“My concerns were not alleviated in any way,” Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said. “I don’t think there is anybody who was there that didn’t feel even more firmly that politics played a major role in determining some of the upgrades in the TIP report.”
Next you’ll tell me that politics affect intelligence reports, too. Oh, wait. . . .