Gina Haspel reportedly offered to withdraw nomination to head CIA


Gina Haspel, President Trump's pick to head the CIA, offered on Friday to withdraw her nomination, after several White House officials told her they weren't sure she'd be able to get confirmed, several people with knowledge of the matter told CNN on Sunday.
After the meeting, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short and White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders met Haspel at CIA headquarters and reassured her, CNN reports, and on Saturday she told officials she would stay on as the nominee. Haspel's Senate confirmation hearing is set for Wednesday.
Haspell has spent 33 years with the CIA, but has drawn scrutiny for her work overseeing a "black site" in Thailand in 2002 and destroying video tapes in 2005 that showed terrorism suspects being waterboarded. Last month, the CIA released an internal review that absolved her of responsibility, CNN reports.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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