WASHINGTON–Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, told The Daily Caller Tuesday she was unaware that she revealed classified information during a hearing last week.
Feinstein said at a Judiciary oversight hearing last Wednesday that the federal government paid almost a million dollars to hack into the iPhone of a gunman involved in fatally shooting 14 people and injuring 22 others at a community center in San Bernardino, California in 2015.
The Associated Press reported Monday the FBI says the cost to be classified information and does not disclose the name of the company it contracted to break into the shooter’s cell phone.
“I don’t recall it as being [classified] or I would not have said it,” Feinstein said. “I did not at the time [ know it was classified].”
The California Democrat noted she has not spoken to the FBI since the hearing last week.
Feinstein mentioned how much the agency paid during her question time with FBI Director James Comey at a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing last Wednesday.
“I was so struck when San Bernardino happened and you made overtures to allow that device to be opened, and then the FBI had to spend $900,000 to hack it open,” said Feinstein. “And as I subsequently learned of some of the reason for it, there were good reasons to get into that device.”