But the assertion, which echoes charges from other Republicans, is largely unsubstantiated or misleading.
Mr. Stevens said an investigation by outside lawyers had confirmed the assertion, which violated company ethics codes, and led the board to demand his resignation on Friday.
Was it the number of bodies, Texas winning, or the assertion, which seemed more doubtful as the debate proceeded, that we live in "modern times"?
The disclosure of the memorandum is the clearest sign yet of disagreement between intelligence agencies over the assertion, which was produced jointly by the C.I.A. and the Defense Intelligence Agency and made public on May 28 on the C.I.A. Web site.
The assertion, which appears to be corroborated by videos posted on the Internet, came one day after Syrian government targets in central Damascus were hit by multiple car bombings that were among the deadliest and most destructive so far in the nearly two-year-old conflict.
The assertion, which came during a morning of testimony, offered some clues to the extent of Mr. Murdoch's perceived influence on British public life — a crucial issue under scrutiny by Lord Justice Sir Brian Leveson's inquiry into a phone hacking scandal involving Mr. Murdoch's newspapers.
Huhne's breathtaking audacity in expecting his wife to take his penalties – the shovelling of the moral imperative on to her, and the assertion (which he clearly believed) that it would be her fault if he lost his driving licence and so didn't get elected – is symptomatic of this delusion and his belief that he was above and beyond any ethical consideration.
In our case, the assertion which says that no edges cross to each other seems to be a problem.
But good journalists have this pesky habit of asking for facts demanding she prove the flimsy assertions which form the walls of her make-believe world.
The group's assertions, which the government and the manufacturer neither disputed nor affirmed, had officials scrambling to determine how the corn might have arrived in Japan.
