CIA to yield to criminal probe

0 Comments | USA TODAY, January, 2008 | by Donna Leinwand

WASHINGTON -- An outside prosecutor will oversee a criminal investigation into whether the CIA broke the law when it destroyed videotapes of its interrogations of two suspected terrorists, Attorney General Michael Mukasey said Wednesday.

"I have concluded that there is a basis for initiating a criminal investigation of this matter," Mukasey said in a statement.

Mukasey said he selected John Durham, 57, a career prosecutor and deputy U.S. attorney from Connecticut, to avoid an appearance of conflict. Such an investigation normally would be handled by U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg of the Eastern District of Virginia, where the CIA's headquarters is located. A spokesman from Rosenberg's office declined to comment.

Durham is best known for taking on...