Trump defends CIA pick Gina Haspel despite role in torture program

US President Donald Trump has defended his nominee to lead the Central Intelligence Agency, Gina Haspel, after she offered to withdraw amid questions over her role in the agency’s torture program.

"My highly respected nominee for CIA Director, Gina Haspel, has come under fire because she was too tough on Terrorists," Trump tweeted on Monday.

Trump's tweet came as Haspel, who spent three decades in the CIA’s covert services, faces stiff opposition in Congress over her history of involvement in the torture of al-Qaeda suspects after the September 11 attacks.

Haspel, a black ops veteran who joined the CIA in 1985, was once in charge of a clandestine interrogation operation in Thailand accused of torturing detainees.

Haspel is scheduled to face questioning by lawmakers in a confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The post has become vacant after Trump appointed Mike Pompeo as secretary of state last month. Haspel would be the first woman to lead the spy agency.

A number of senators and rights groups are fighting back against Haspel’s nomination, saying her involvement in the CIA’s torture program should “disqualify her” from the top position.

"The torture of detainees in US custody during the last decade was one of the darkest chapters in American history. The Senate must do its job in scrutinizing the record & involvement of Gina Haspel in this disgraceful program," said Republican Senator John McCain, who himself was tortured as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.

Despite her controversial past, Haspel’s rise is not entirely surprising. She is respected in the US intelligence community as she previously served at the CIA deputy director and led worldwide undercover spying operations.

Haspel reportedly told the White House she would step aside to avoid a confirmation hearing that could damage the CIA reputation. 

The Senate Intelligence Committee released a report in 2014 about the CIA's detention and interrogation program and its use of various forms of torture on detainees between 2001 and 2006.

PressTV-Trump CIA chief nominee once ran ‘black site’ prison

Trump’s nominee for the CIA director, Gina Haspel, had worked as a veteran CIA clandestine service officer, who once also ran a “black site” prison.

The report concluded that the interrogation methods were far more brutal and less effective than what the agency had publicly acknowledged.

The report also said that not a single terrorist attack was foiled as a result of the use of the so-called harsh interrogation techniques.

The CIA in April declassified an internal memo clearing Haspel of wrongdoing for the destruction of videotapes depicting the waterboarding of terrorism suspects in 2005.

The agency released the review in response to demands by lawmakers for more information on Haspel’s career.

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