Gina Haspel thanked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Thursday for his “thoughtfulness” after he advised his Senate colleagues to vote against her nomination to be CIA director.
“I have the utmost respect for Senator McCain and I appreciate the thoughtfulness with which he has approached this nomination process,” Haspel said in a statement Thursday.
McCain stated that “her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying,” following a tense confirmation hearing on Wednesday where senators pried into her past CIA work on an enhanced interrogation program.
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His rebuke of Haspel did not seem to have swayed his GOP colleagues’ votes on Thursday, however.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) told The Hill: “McCain is not always right and never has been.”
During the contentious hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, Haspel dodged questions on whether the interrogation programs used by the CIA were “immoral,” but told senators that she would not allow the CIA to reimplement such techniques even if ordered to do so by the president.
McCain spent over five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, where he was subjected to torture.
McCain is not expected to make it to the vote on Haspel’s confirmation, and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) plans to oppose her. As a result, Haspel needs at least one Democratic vote to win confirmation.