CIA Chief nominee Gina Haspel in hot waters
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WASHINGTON: American CIA Chief nominee Gina Haspel, sought to withdraw over concerns about her role in the agency’s interrogation program, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.
Haspel’s offer to withdraw on Friday was prompted by growing concern among her supporters that White House staff were becoming nervous that the nomination was in trouble, the sources said.
The Washington Post first reported her offer to withdraw.
Haspel was summoned to the White House on Friday for a meeting to discuss her history in the interrogation program that employed techniques, including waterboarding, widely condemned as torture, the Post reported, citing four unidentified senior US officials.
She told the White House she would step aside to avoid a brutal Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday that might damage the CIA, the officials told the Post. She then returned to agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
White House aides including legislative affairs liaison Marc Short and spokeswoman Sarah Sanders then rushed to Langley for discussions on Friday that lasted several hours but did not secure a commitment from her to stick with the nomination, the paper said.
Only on Saturday afternoon was the White House assured she would not withdraw, the Post quoted the officials as saying.
Trump named Haspel, the first woman tapped to head the Central Intelligence Agency, to succeed Mike Pompeo, who became secretary of state last month. - Agencies
