WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday found himself caught in the middle of a collision between the Central Intelligence Agency and his own Democratic allies, who accused the White House of helping to cover up a legacy of torture and put the president on the defensive over an interrogation program he never supported.

A day after the Senate Intelligence Committee released a blistering report on the C.I.A.’s interrogations of terrorism suspects a decade ago, Mr. Obama, who banned such methods when he took office, came under fire from Democrats on the committee for declining to endorse the report’s conclusion that they were ineffective and standing by the C.I.A. director, John O. Brennan.

Mr. Obama’s attempt to find a balance on a polarizing issue inherited from his predecessor was seen by those critics as a failure to hold the agency accountable.