Gina Haspel, nominee to head CIA, sought to withdraw over questions about her role in agency... [View all]

[DonViejo]

Source: The Washington Post




Gina Haspel, nominee to head CIA, sought to withdraw over questions about her role in agency interrogation program

By Carol D. Leonnig, Shane Harris and Josh Dawsey May 6 at 1:31 PM

Gina Haspel, President Trump’s nominee to become the next CIA director, sought to withdraw her nomination Friday after some White House officials worried that her role in the interrogation of terrorist suspects could prevent her confirmation by the Senate, according to four senior U.S. officials.

Haspel told the White House she was interested in stepping aside if it avoided the spectacle of a brutal confirmation hearing on Wednesday and potential damage to the CIA’s reputation and her own, the officials said. She was summoned to the White House on Friday for a meeting on her history in the CIA’s controversial interrogation program — which employed techniques such as waterboarding that are widely seen as torture — and signaled that she was going to withdraw her nomination. She then returned to CIA headquarters, the officials said.

Taken aback at her stance, senior White House aides, including legislative affairs head Marc Short and press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, rushed to Langley, Va., to meet with Haspel at her office late Friday afternoon. Discussions stretched several hours, officials said, and the White House was not entirely sure she would stick with her nomination until Saturday afternoon, according to the officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Trump learned of the drama Friday, calling officials from his trip to Dallas. He decided to push for Haspel to remain as the nominee after initially signaling he would support whatever decision was taken, administration officials said.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gina-haspel-nominee-to-head-cia-sought-to-withdraw-over-questions-about-her-role-in-agency-interrogation-program/2018/05/06/eaa9b990-50dc-11e8-af46-b1d6dc0d9bfe_story.html