The hearing: Gina Haspel, Trump’s nominee for CIA director, went in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee in her public confirmation hearing. There was then a private hearing to discuss classified information.
Line of questions: Haspel faced sharp questioning about her role in the CIA’s interrogation tactics and the destruction of tapes.
Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee for CIA director, testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee this morning at her confirmation hearing.
She needs votes from Democratic and Republican senators to be confirmed as the next CIA director.
That could be a challenge for Haspel since Democrats argued that the public should know more about her record.
Still, many Democrats have signaled they would wait for the hearing before weighing in on whether they’ll support Haspel – at least publicly.
Some Democrats are now talking. Here’s what they’re thinking:
Gina Haspel, Trump’s pick to lead the CIA, just went into a private meeting with senators following her public confirmation hearing.
During the public hearing, Haspel was grilled about her involvement in the CIA’s interrogation tactics and her role in the destruction of tapes.
Here’s what we learned:
National security officials and some Republicans are preparing contingency plans in case Gina Haspel, Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA, falters amid questions about her past role in the George W. Bush-era extreme interrogation program and destruction of videotapes of waterboarding, five sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.
There has always been some level of concern that Haspel was in trouble, based on her past work for the agency and the public controversy it’s inspired, according to one White House official. However, that official said they still believe she will be confirmed.
However, one of the contingency plans being discussed is this:
Democratic Sen. Jack Reed quizzed Gina Haspel on whether she would make personal pledge of loyalty to Trump if he should ask.
Reed referenced former FBI Director James Comey has said that Trump asked for a pledge of loyalty.
Haspel said she’s worked closely with Trump and doesn’t think that would happen.
“Senator, my only loyalty is to the American people and the constitution of the United States,” she said.
Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris just asked Gina Haspel, Trump’s nominee to be CIA director, whether she agrees with the President’s remarks that torture works.
“I don’t believe that torture works,” she said.
After Haspel’s lengthy response, Harris asked, “Is that a yes?”
Haspel quickly responded, “No, it’s not a yes.”
“We got valuable information from debriefing of Al Qaeda detainees, and I don’t think it’s knowable whether interrogation techniques played a role in that.”
Sen. Kamala Harris pressed Gina Haspel if she felt the CIA’s previous interrogation techniques were immoral, asking her multiple times to answer with a simple yes or no. Haspel wouldn’t say.
Here’s the exchange:
Sen. Kamala Harris: One question I’ve not heard you answer is do you believe that the previous interrogation techniques were immoral?
Gina Haspel: Senator, I believe that CIA officers to whom you referred –
Harris: It’s a yes or no answer. Do you believe the previous interrogation techniques were – do you believe they were illegal. I’m asking do you believe they were immoral?
Harris: Senator, I believe that CIA did extraordinary work to prevent another attack on this country given the legal tools.
Harris: Please answer yes or no. Do you believe in hindsight that those techniques were immoral?
Haspel: Senator, what I believe sitting here today is that I support the higher moral standard we have decided to hold ourselves –
Harris: Can you please answer the question?
Haspel: I think I’ve answered the question.
Harris: No you’ve not. Do you believe the previous techniques now armed with hindsight, do you believe they were immoral yes or no?
Haspel: Senator, I believe that we should hold ourselves to the moral standard outlined in the army field manual.
Harris: Okay. So I understand that you – you’ve not answered the question, but I’m going to move on.
Gina Haspel earlier in the hearing pledged that she would not restart the CIA’s detention and interrogation program and that she would not follow an order that she found morally objectionable.
“I would not allow CIA to undertake activity that I thought was immoral, even if it was technically legal,” Haspel said. “I would absolutely not permit it.”
Capitol police removed a protester from the hearing after she interrupted Gina Haspel during question.
As the protester was escorted out of the building, you could hear her yelling, “bloody Gina! Bloody Gina!”
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who earlier stated she liked Gina Haspel “very much” but was troubled by her still-classified past, asked the nominee if she was “an advocate for destroying the tapes.”
“Senator, I absolutely was an advocate,” Haspel said, saying while she never watched the tapes — she described those as 92 individual tapes of one detainee being tortured — she knew CIA officers’ faces were on them.
She said that “was very dangerous at a time when there were unauthorized disclosures exposing the program.”
Sen. Mark Warner just asked Gina Haspel what she would do if she were asked to torture detainees again.
Stating she has a “very strong moral compass,” Haspel said, “I support the higher moral standard that this country has decided to hold itself to. I would never, ever take CIA back to an interrogation program.”
What they’re talking about: A total of 119 suspected terrorists were held at secret CIA sites between 2002 and 2008, and 39 of those detainees were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques, which included sleep deprivation, waterboarding, prolonged standing, and exposure to cold. At least five detainees were subjected to rectal rehydration and at least three detainees were waterboarded.
The Senate Select Intelligence Committee found those techniques were “not an effective means of obtaining accurate information or gaining detainee cooperation,” though some Republican senators said they believed the program saved lives.
One of the lines of questioning you’ll hear a lot about today is that about Gina Haspel’s role in the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes.
That was the first question that came up from both Republican and Democratic senators — and Haspel said the decision was made by then-head of the CIA clandestine service Jose Rodriguez.
She added that there “was a great deal of concern about the security risk” posed to CIA officers who were depicted on the tapes.
CIA Director nominee Gina Haspel just told her origin story with the intelligence service, beginning when she joined in 1985 and navigated “dead drops,” “dusty back allies,” and a “dark, moonless night.”
Here’s how she describes one of her first missions:
If confirmed, Gina Haspel would be the first woman to lead the CIA.
This is a fact she didn’t shy away from in her opening statement. She said when she was first promoted to station chief, she was asked “why would they send you?”
“I owe that leader much for believing in me at a time when few women were given these opportunities,” Haspel said.
“There were few senior women leading at CIA in those days, and we are stronger now because that picture is changing. I did my part — quietly and through hard work — to break down those barriers,” Haspel said.
Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director, told senators she believes in oversight for the CIA:
Lt. Col. Derek A. Poteet, USMC, who is one of the defense counsel for 9/11 “mastermind” Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), confirmed to CNN that a motion was filed to allow KSM to provide information about Gina Haspel to Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“The judge has issued an order requiring expedited briefing on the issue,” Poteet said.
The New York Times first reported KSM was seeking to provide a statement.
KSM was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2009. At a pretrial hearing there in 2012, Mohammed declared that the US government sanctioned torture in the name of national security.
He also equated the plane hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people to the “millions” he said have been killed by America’s military. After Mohammed’s remarks, military judge Captain James Pohl said no other personal comments by the accused will be allowed.
In 2014, the Senate Intelligence Committee released its report on “enhanced interrogation techniques” used by the CIA in the post-9/11 era. Mohammed was waterboarded at least 183 times.
Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat who serves as vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, cast Gina Haspel as a qualified nominee to lead the CIA but said she must answer for her and the agency’s past involvement in its controversial post-9/11 torture programs.
Calling Haspel “among the most experienced people to be nominated for the position of the Director of Central Intelligence,” Warner said his vote would be dependent on whether she could answer questions about the legality of the programs and if she would authorize ones like them again.
He also raised concerns over President Trump, who “seems incapable or unwilling to accept facts,” and said he would seek clarity about her relationship with the President.
“If you’re in the room,” Warner asked of Haspel, “will the President listen when you tell him that something is a bad idea?”
Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky has said he plans to vote against Gina Haspel’s nomination.
Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain is recovering from cancer treatment in his home state and, as someone who himself was tortured while he was a prisoner of war, is among the most passionate advocates against torture in Congress.
This means Haspel will likely need support of at least a few Democrats in order to be confirmed.
Many Democrats have signaled they’ll wait for the hearing before weighing in on whether they’ll support Haspel – at least publicly.
West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin, a swing vote who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, made his clearest indication yet in an interview with CNN that he could support Haspel, calling her a “true soldier” and someone who has “done her job.”
Sen. Jon Tester said he is not voting for Gina Haspel’s nomination to be the next CIA director, the first Democrat from a red state to openly oppose her.
“I’m not a huge fan of waterboarding,” the Montana Democrat who is up for re-election this year told CNN on Capitol Hill.
The White House has rallied behind Haspel for the position, even though questions over her past in the CIA are likely to come up at Wednesday’s confirmation hearing with the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Sen. Richard Burr opened the hearing for Gina Haspel by addressing head-on what many senators will question her about: The CIA’s history of torture after 9/11.
Burr said “some may seek to turn this nomination into a trial about a long shuddered program,” however the hearing should be about Haspel, not those programs.
“The American people allow the CIA to operate in the shadows because they have a trust in oversight and I take that responsibility seriously,” Burr said. “Now, some may seek to turn this nomination into a trial about a long shuddered program. I’d like to set the record straight and make clear to those in attendance and the American people, that this hearing … is not about programs already addressed by executive order, legislation and the court of law. It’s about the woman seated in front of us.”
Before Gina Haspel was President Trump’s pick to be CIA director, she faced scrutiny for her actions in the CIA.
Here’s why her nomination has been controversial:
Acting CIA Director Gina Haspel, facing a tough confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, will offer her commitment that she will not restart a detention and interrogation program.
Excerpts of Haspel’s opening statement were released Tuesday night.
“I understand that what many people around the country want to know about are my views on CIA’s former detention and interrogation program,” the excerpts say.
Haspel, a 33-year CIA veteran, is facing two potential sticking points in her nomination:
