Senate

Kaine to oppose Haspel to lead CIA

Greg Nash

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) said on Friday that he will oppose CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel’s nomination to lead the spy agency.

Kaine — who previously voted for Mike Pompeo to lead the CIA — pointed to Haspel’s involvement in the agency’s “enhanced interrogation” program, which is now widely viewed as torture, as his reasoning for the vote.

“I believe her role in the Agency’s use of torture and efforts to destroy evidence of it was neither minor nor incidental. In particular, I was especially disturbed that she personally wrote a cable ordering the destruction of videotape evidence of the Agency’s use of torture,” Kaine said in a statement.

{mosads}

Kaine’s decision comes after Haspel testified on Wednesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, where she was pressed by Democrats on her views about the morality of torture and the destruction of the videotapes.

Kaine separately met with Haspel on Thursday.

Kaine also pointed to GOP Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), saying he echoed “my colleague John McCain’s disappointment in Gina Haspel’s failure to condemn it as immoral during her hearing.”

“I believe the CIA needs leadership that not only honors the rule of law but meets a higher calling to the moral principles of our nation,” he said.

Haspel faces a narrow path to confirmation with GOP leadership wanting to move her nomination before they leave for a weeklong Memorial Day recess.

Republicans hold a fragile 51-seat majority in the Senate. With GOP Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) opposing Haspel’s nomination, she needs at least one Democratic senator to support her.

If other GOP senators, several of whom have said they remain on the fence, decide to oppose Haspel, or McCain returns from Arizona, where he is being treated for brain cancer, she will need to pick up more Democratic support.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) is the only Democrat who has said he will support Haspel so far.

Tags Central Intelligence Agency Joe Manchin John McCain Mike Pompeo nominations Rand Paul Tim Kaine Torture

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