Trump’s CIA pick cleared of destroying videotaped evidence of agents ‘torturing’ suspect
Internal review found that Gina Haspel ‘acted appropriately’ by drafting a cable from her boss ordering agents to destroy footage of waterboarding
An internal CIA review in 2011 cleared US President Donald Trump’s choice to head the agency, Gina Haspel, of wrongdoing in the destruction of videotapes depicting the harsh interrogation of an al-Qaeda suspect, according to a memorandum that the CIA declassified and released on Friday.
The spy agency released the memo in response to demands by US lawmakers for more details on Haspel’s career and as part of its effort to bolster her nomination. Haspel’s bid to be the first female CIA director faces scrutiny on Capitol Hill due to her involvement in a discontinued interrogation technique that many regarded as torture.
“I have found no fault with the performance of Ms Haspel,” Michael Morell, the CIA’s deputy director at the time, wrote in the December 2011 memo.
“I have concluded that she acted appropriately in her role” as chief of staff to Jose Rodriguez, the head of CIA spy operations, he wrote.
At issue was a decision that Rodriguez has said he made in November 2005 to destroy videotapes showing the waterboarding of CIA detainee Abu Zubaydah who US officials claimed at the time – incorrectly – was a top-level al-Qaeda operative.