Sen. Ron Wyden Ronald (Ron) Lee WydenGOP senator blocks Schumer resolution aimed at Biden probe as tensions run high Republican Senators raise concerns over Oracle-TikTok deal Hillicon Valley: TikTok, Oracle seek Trump's approval as clock winds down | Hackers arrested for allegedly defacing U.S. websites after death of Iranian general | 400K people register to vote on Snapchat MORE (D-Ore.) on Tuesday berated CIA Director John Brennan for his failure to acknowledge the agency’s spying on Senate staffers.

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“When you’re talking about spying on a committee responsible for overseeing your agency, in my view that undermines the very checks and balances that protect our democracy and it’s unacceptable in a free society,” Wyden said during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on global threats.

Brennan pushed back on Wyden’s characterization of the 2014 incident as “spying” and the two exchanged testy words.

“Do not say that we spied on Senate computers or your files. We did not do that,” Brennan said.

“I read the exact words of the Inspector General and the exact words of the review board,” Wyden replied. “They said there was improper access.”

As the clock was winding down on Wyden’s allotted time for questions, Brennan claimed that he mischaracterized the content of the pair of reports detailing the investigation into the incident.

“Pretty hard to mischaracterize a word-for-word quote, they used the word ‘improper access,’” Wyden said as committee chair Richard Burr Richard Mauze BurrRep. Mark Walker says he's been contacted about Liberty University vacancy Overnight Defense: Trump rejects major cut to military health care | Senate report says Trump campaign's Russia contacts posed 'grave' threat Senate report describes closer ties between 2016 Trump campaign, Russia MORE (R-N.C.) attempted to shift the discussion to another senator.

The tense exchange was the latest skirmish in a long-running battle between lawmakers and the agency after Sen. Dianne Feinstein Dianne Emiel FeinsteinSenators offer disaster tax relief bill Democrats back away from quick reversal of Trump tax cuts Congress must save the Postal Service from collapse — our economy depends on it MORE (D-Calif.) revealed in March 2014 that CIA staff had broken into and searched Senate files in a walled-off computer that the agency and the Intelligence Committee were using to share documents as part of the committee’s research for its report on the CIA's former torture techniques.

The agency's inspector general found in mid-2014 that five agency employees had "improperly accessed" the Senate network. Early last year, a CIA accountability board convened by Brennan determined that the staffers acted within their rights when they searched the Senate network.

“These were CIA computers at a CIA-leased facility, it was a CIA network shared between Senate staffers conducting that investigation for your report as well as CIA personnel,” Brennan said Tuesday. He repeatedly characterized the improper access as “very limited.”

He suggested that it was in fact the Senate staffers’ access of the files that was inappropriate.

“When it became quite obvious to CIA personnel that Senate staffers had unauthorized access to an internal draft document of the CIA, there was an obligation of CIA officers to investigate to see what might have been the reason for the access,” Brennan said.

“Separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, senator, goes both ways,” he said later in the exchange.

Brennan has apologized privately, to Feinstein and then-Sen. Saxby Chambliss Clarence (Saxby) Saxby ChamblissLobbying world GOP lobbyist tapped for White House legislative affairs The Hill's Morning Report - Gillibrand drops out as number of debaters shrinks MORE (R-Ga.), the committee's ranking member, in the wake of the CIA's IG report.

Wyden’s comments echo a letter he sent to President Obama last month, along with Sens. Martin Heinrich Martin Trevor HeinrichSenate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency Senate Democrats seek removal of controversial public lands head after nomination withdrawal Five takeaways from final Senate Intel Russia report MORE (D-N.M.) and Mazie Hirono Mazie Keiko HironoDemocrats unveil plan declaring racism a public health issue Overnight Defense: US, Russia trade blame over Syria incident | Pentagon calls out China's 'counterproductive' military exercises, missile test | Democrats press Esper on COVID-19 response Democrats press Esper on 'concerning' rise in Pentagon's COVID-19 cases MORE (D-Hawaii), asking that Brennan be required to apologize for the search of Senate files.

“We believe that it is necessary for you to address this matter directly," the senators wrote.