2 Democrats join Republicans on the Senate Intelligence Committee to recommend Gina Haspel as CIA director

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

published 16 May 2018

The Senate Intelligence Committee voted 10-5 on Wednesday to recommend the Senate confirm Gina Haspel as CIA director, The Associated Press reports. Haspel on Tuesday issued a statement claiming she believes the CIA's use of controversial interrogation techniques like waterboarding after 9/11 "ultimately did damage to our officers and our standing in the world," which was evidently enough to win over the votes of Democratic Sens. Mark Warner (Va.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.). The rest of the Democrats on the committee voted against Haspel.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer and is away from the Senate, has urged his colleagues to vote against Haspel due to her work at a CIA "black site" in 2002 where terror suspects were waterboarded. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also suggested he will not vote for Haspel when the vote comes to the full Senate, which could be as soon as this week.

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.