CIA Nominee Gina Haspel Clears Senate Intelligence Committee

President Trump’s nominee to be director of central intelligence, Gina Haspel, has been voted out of the Senate Intelligence Committee on a 10-5 vote.

This is how the vote shaped up:

Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) Yes
Mark Warner (D-Virginia) Yes
James Risch (R-Idaho) Yes
Marco Rubio (R-Florida) Yes
Susan Collins (R-Maine) Yes
Roy Blunt (R-Missouri) Yes
James Lankford (R-Oklahoma) Yes
Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) Yes
John Cornyn (R-Texas) Yes
Dianne Feinstein (D-California) No
Ron Wyden (D-Oregon No
Martin Heinrich (D-New Mexico No
Angus King (D-Maine No
Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) Yes
Kamala Harris (D-California No

A head count right now shows Haspel losing the votes of Rand Paul and John McCain but she looks to pick up the votes of all Red State Democrat senators. So her confirmation is assured.

On the whole, I think Trump’s nomination of Haspel was inspired. Not only has she come up through the clandestine service as an actual field operator, which is unusual in these meeker times, and she has hands on experience fighting terrorism. She is, according to reports, admired and respected in the agency. This is the first step of returning it to its apolitical roots instead of it acting like an adjunct of the Democrat party which it has since the 2004 election. What is also admirable is the administration’s decision to go to the mattresses for this nomination and not let her be torpedoed by half-assed allegations.

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