After Gina Haspel’s confirmation hearing in the Senate, Senator John McCain on Wednesday said that he is against President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director, CNN reported.
McCain urged the Senate to vote against Haspel, saying, “her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying.”
According to McCain, Haspel during her testimony in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee didn’t address his concerns about her role in an enhanced interrogation program she ran during the George W. Bush administration.
The “enhanced interrogation program” during that period is not considered to be torture.
McCain at the moment is recovering from surgery related to his brain cancer in Arizona and was not expected to be present when the Senate votes on Haspel’s nomination.
With McCain not attending, and Republican Senator Rand Paul also opposed, Haspel still needs support from at least one Democratic senator as well as every other Republican to be confirmed.
“Like many Americans, I understand the urgency that drove the decision to resort to so-called enhanced interrogation methods after our country was attacked. I know that those who used enhanced interrogation methods and those who approved them wanted to protect Americans from harm. I appreciate their dilemma and the strain of their duty,” McCain said in a statement Wednesday.
“But as I have argued many times, the methods we employ to keep our nation safe must be as right and just as the values we aspire to live up to and promote in the world.”
McCain said that he believes Haspel is a patriot who loves our country and has devoted her professional life to its service and defense.
“However, Ms. Haspel’s role in overseeing the use of torture by Americans is disturbing. Her refusal to acknowledge torture’s immorality is disqualifying,” he continued. “I believe the Senate should exercise its duty of advice and consent and reject this nomination.”
McCain was tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. He had previously expressed skepticism about Haspel’s nomination.
Haspel’s relation to the “torture” program contributed to a tense hearing on Wednesday in which Senate Democrats pushed her to explain her views on the subject. Although she did not give an answer when Democratic Senator Kamala Harris repeatedly asked if Haspel believes past interrogation techniques were “immoral,” she still pledged that she would not bring back the program.
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