Debate underway ahead of hearing for Trump’s CIA nominee
WASHINGTON — With few details about Gina Haspel’s undercover career, debate over President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA descended into verbal spatting between those who praise her experience and others who want her disqualified because of her role in the spy agency’s harsh interrogation of terror subjects after 9-11.
Haspel faces a contentious hearing in the Senate intelligence committee next week ahead of what the White House admits will be a close confirmation vote in the full Senate.
Hoping to sway senators his way, Trump tweeted on Wednesday: “Gina Haspel has displayed dedication and leadership throughout her more than three decades of service with the CIA and is the right person to lead the Agency.”
That was a few hours after her critics held a conference call in which Chris Anders of the American Civil Liberties Union lamented: “If confirmed, Gina Haspel would be the first and only person confirmed by the Senate — we believe in its entire history — with a known operational role in using torture.”