Feinstein Under Pressure over Hospel’s Nomination

California Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein is being pressured to go against President Donald Trump’s nominee for director of CIA.

Feinstein, aged 84, is the oldest serving senator. She has become the key vote in the fight over Gina Haspel’s nomination. Feinstein, who is once again going for reelection in 2018, was criticized this week when she said that she has nothing against Haspel and described her as “good deputy director” at the CIA.

“I have spent some time with her. We’ve had dinner together. We have talked. Everything I know is she has been a good deputy director. … I think hopefully the entire organization learned something from the so-called enhanced interrogation program,” she said.

However, several progressives, including Feinstein’s top Democratic challenger, used the remarks as the latest sign that the decades-long lawmaker is out of touch with a party that is moving increasingly to the left.

The Hill reported that Kevin De León, Feinstein’s rival, was quick to note that if he were in the Senate he would oppose Haspel’s nomination. He argued Feinstein should be “a leading voice rallying all Democrats against this nomination.”

“Having released a torture report, Feinstein knows better than most how morally and legally wrong torture is. This should be an easy call,” he said.

Feinstein and de León started their confrontation ahead of the June primary that has drawn national attention. According to The Hill, although Feinstein continues to have a sizable lead in the polls, she failed to garner the 60 percent required to secure the California Democratic Party’s endorsement during last month’s caucus.

Meanwhile, Feinstein’s remarks also angered several other groups, as well as members of her own caucus, who reject Haspel’s nomination because of her role in “enhanced interrogation” programs. The Center for American Progress, an organization aligned with the Democratic Party, stated that the Senate should reject Haspel’s nomination because she was “directly involved in one of the CIA’s darkest moments in history.”