Liz Cheney Blasts Rand Paul, Says He Is ‘Defending And Sympathizing With Terrorists’

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Henry Rodgers Chief National Correspondent
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Wyoming Republican Rep. Liz Cheney blasted Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul for criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to appoint current CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel to lead the agency Wednesday.

“Gina Haspel has spent her career defending the American people and homeland,” Cheney said in a tweet. “@RandPaul is defending and sympathizing with terrorists.”

Cheney’s comments came after Paul appeared on Fox News, saying Trump should choose someone else to lead the CIA, due to the fact Haspel had been previously appointed to oversee “enhanced interrogation methods” for the agency during former President George W. Bush’s administration.

“I oppose her because she believes that waterboarding should be something that we use, and I think America shouldn’t be known for torture,” Paul said. “And I have members of my family in the military. I don’t want, if they’re ever captured, for foreign countries to think torture is okay.”

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Haspel has more than 30 years of history with the CIA. She joined the agency in 1985. Haspel ran a Thailand-based “black site” prison in 2002, which oversaw “the waterboarding and other harsh techniques” used to interrogate Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists. (RELATED: Meet Gina Haspel, Trump’s Pick To Be The First Female CIA Director)

The current CIA deputy director must go through the confirmation process before being appointed as director of the agency.

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