Fate of Trump’s CIA pick hinges on answers to hard questions

The fate of President Donald Trump’s CIA nominee hinges on how well she fields tough questions Wednesday from senators who want details of her time running a covert detention site where terror suspects were brutally interrogated after 9-11 and an explanation for why she wanted videos of the sessions destroyed.

Gina Haspel, a 61-year-old career undercover spy who is currently acting CIA director, has been practicing her answers at mock confirmation hearings with former top intelligence officials. Many of them praise her 33-year tenure at the agency in foreign and domestic assignments, and she received glowing endorsements from Republican senators on the eve of the hearing.

“I know that some have requested the documents that deal with covert action be made public and declassified,” Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, the Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Tuesday. “That has never happened in the history of the CIA, and it’s not going to happen with Gina Haspel’s nomination.”

His GOP colleague on the committee, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, lamented how Haspel’s nomination fueled a “toxic political environment.” He said Democrats and other opponents have engaged in “character assassination” before giving her the opportunity to answer questions and defend herself. Democrats have complained