On Thursday evening, ProPublica issued a retraction and apology for a February 2017 article in which the news organization erroneously reported that Gina Haspel, the veteran CIA officer President Trump has tapped to lead the agency, was in charge of a secret CIA prison in Thailand when al Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times in one month. "The story also said she mocked the prisoner's suffering in a private conversation," ProPublica editor in chief Stephen Engelberg wrote. "Neither of these assertions is correct and we retract them. It is now clear that Haspel did not take charge of the base until after the interrogation of Zubaydah ended."
Haspel was in charge of the black site when another detainee, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, was waterboarded three times, ProPublica says, and it also stands by its reporting that she "pushed her bosses to destroy the tapes of Zubaydah's waterboarding," which they did. "Her actions in that instance, and in the waterboarding of al-Nashiri, are likely to be the focus of questions at her confirmation hearings," Engelberg writes. Waterboarding is widely considered a form of torture, and Trump has proposed and reportedly pulled back an order to reauthorize it and other forms of inhumane coercion as interrogation tools.
"We at ProPublica hold government officials responsible for their missteps, and we must be equally accountable," Engelberg writes. "This error was particularly unfortunate because it muddied an important national debate about Haspel and the CIA's recent history. To her, and to our readers, we can only apologize, correct the record, and make certain that we do better in the future." You can read more about what they got wrong and why at ProPublica, and Bonnie Kristian's argument that Haspel's other actions are still morally suspect at The Week. Peter Weber
A new CBS News poll finds that two-thirds of Americans do not want Roe v. Wade overturned, with 48 percent saying they would be angry if it were reversed.
The poll was conducted via telephone May 17 to 20, after Alabama passed the nation's strictest abortion law; the goal of anti-abortion lawmakers is to get a case to the Supreme Court so the justices can revisit Roe v. Wade. The poll shows that 26 percent of Americans would be satisfied if Roe v. Wade were overturned, while 23 percent don't think it would matter very much. Split by gender, 69 percent of women and 65 percent of men think Roe v. Wade should be kept as is, and 38 percent of women said they would be angry if it were overturned, compared to 24 percent of men.
Among Republicans, 45 percent say Roe v. Wade should be kept as is, while 48 percent want it overturned; 87 percent of Democrats say keep it as is, compared to 11 percent who want to see it overturned. Of the Republicans polled, 48 percent think abortion should be available but limited, while 16 percent think abortion should be generally available and 34 percent think it should be prohibited. On the Democratic side, 66 percent think abortion should be generally available, 20 percent think it should be available but limited, and 12 percent think it should not be permitted.
Pollsters spoke with a random sample of 1,101 adults nationwide. The margin of error is plus or minus four percentage points. Catherine Garcia
President Trump will nominate Barbara Barrett as Secretary of the Air Force, he announced on Tuesday.
"She will be an outstanding Secretary!" Trump tweeted. Barrett is the former chair of the Aerospace Corporation, and was the first civilian woman pilot to land an F-18 fighter jet on an aircraft carrier, The Arizona Republic reports. She is also a former ambassador to Finland and advised former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush. In 1994, she became the first female Republican to run for governor in Arizona, but did not win the nomination.
Heather Wilson resigned as Secretary of the Air Force in March, in order to become the next president of the University of Texas at El Paso. Catherine Garcia
In public, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó remains optimistic about his efforts to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his United Socialist Party from power. But, privately, The New York Times reports, Guaidó and his advisers are beginning to feel the pressure from Maduro's forces after the opposition's failed military uprising in April.
"The persecution has been savage," Guaidó, who is recognized by several countries, including the United States, as Venezuela's legitimate interim president, told the Times.
Nowadays, Guaidó is often stationed inside one of several safe houses, while his deputy chief of staff Rafael Del Rosario remains in exile, after escaping Venezuela with his family by foot, aided by soldiers sympathetic to Guaidó's cause. Several other soldiers and legislators who stood by Guaidó in April are reportedly either in jail or being harbored in foreign embassies.
The situation has the opposition seriously considering negotiating with Maduro, which Guaidó had previously rejected, the Times reports. Last week representatives from the opposition and Maduro's government traveled to Norway for preliminary talks, though Guaidó maintains that the goal is to remove Maduro. Even the United States, Guaidó's most fervent supporter, has taken a step back from the situation, as President Trump has turned his attention more heavily toward Iran in recent weeks, making it even more unlikely that the Venezuelan opposition could secure U.S. military support if the situation intensifies. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell
More subpoenas are on the way for former White House employees and Hope Hicks, once the Trump administration's communications director, is next in line.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) issued subpoenas on Tuesday to Hicks and Annie Donaldson, the chief of staff to former White House Counsel Don McGahn, who failed to show up to his scheduled hearing before Nadler's committee earlier on Tuesday. The two new subpoenas are part of a sprawling congressional investigation into the actions of the Trump administration, which spun off from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into 2016 Russian election interference. Nadler wants Hicks and Donaldson to answer questions concerning possible obstruction of justice on behalf of President Trump during Mueller's investigation, Bloomberg reports.
Donaldson kept very detailed notes of her meetings with McGahn, which were frequently cited in Mueller's report on his investigation, The Hill writes, while Hicks was considered to have played a "pivotal role," in the White House, serving as one of the president's most trusted advisers.
Hicks' and Donaldson's subpoenas order both of them to turn over documents by June 4 and then testify later that month — Hicks is scheduled for June 19, Donaldson for June 24. Tim O'Donnell
Two Hollywood productions have just scrapped plans to film in Georgia over the state's new abortion law.
Director Reed Morano told Time on Tuesday that she has called off plans to scout locations in Georgia for her new Amazon Studios series The Power following Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signing a law that effectively bans abortion after six weeks. "We had no problem stopping the entire process instantly,” Morano said. "There is no way we would ever bring our money to that state by shooting there." Location scouts had been working in Savannah for months, one of whom already bought a house there and told Time, "we're in panic mode."
Additionally, the upcoming Kristen Wiig comedy Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar has also pulled out of Georgia, a representative for Wiig confirmed to Time. Wiig will star in this film and co-wrote it along with Annie Mumolo, whom she previously collaborated with on the hit 2011 comedy Bridesmaids.
This comes after a number of producers had announced plans to boycott Georgia, which has become a popular filming location thanks to its generous tax incentives. The Wire creator David Simon was among those who said his company wouldn't film in the state over the law. The Motion Picture Association of America previously said amid these boycotts that "the outcome in Georgia will also be determined through the legal process" and that "we will continue to monitor developments."
Some have objected to the Georgia boycotts, arguing they will only unjustly hurt the thousands of members of the film industry there. Morano told Time that while "I'm sorry if the work moves away from where you live ... having this basic fundamental right for women is more important than anything in this moment in time." Brendan Morrow