Trump’s CIA director pick is a ‘great choice,’ ‘enhanced interrogation’ architect James Mitchell says
President Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is receiving backlash from the mainstream media for her position on “enhance interrogation techniques.”
Gina Haspel, a 30-year intelligence officer veteran, will replace CIA Director Mike Pompeo after Trump announced on Tuesday that Rex Tillerson is out as secretary of state.
“Enhance interrogation” architect Dr. James Mitchell told FOX Business’ Liz MacDonald that Haspel is a “great choice” who will provide the president with the best intelligence in a non-partisan manner.
“[Haspel] is not going to color it through partisan political lenses to get a better job or to please him, then she is the person for it,” he said.
Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters he was “perplexed” by the president’s nominee to lead the CIA and questioned Haspel’s trust over what he describes her "joyful glee" of waterboarding.
"To really appoint the head cheerleader for waterboarding to be head of CIA, I mean, how could you trust somebody who did that to be in charge of the CIA," he said. "To read of her glee during the waterboarding is just absolutely appalling."
Mitchell, the man who personally interrogated 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said Sen. Paul was misinformed when he suggested that Mitchell, in his book, referenced Haspel as the chief of base of an interrogation site.
“That’s the way they are going to attack her,” he said. “They are going to take things out of context and distort them. I don’t think he is deliberately distorting them, but I think someone told something that is not true.”
Mitchell said a second wave of attacks where terrorists intended to crash airplanes into the tallest buildings in Chicago, Los Angeles and Seattle were foiled by enhanced interrogation techniques.
“By the time [terrorists] got to where they can communicate again, we were catching people. They were providing information that allowed us to catch other people that eventually led to the plot being completely disrupted,” he explained.