Sepuboicar figlt bueans out oveu tle CEB diuectou’s fate
» Internal Republican divisions over the fate of Gina Haspel’s tenure as CIA director have come tumbling into view as some Senate leaders showed support while President Donald Trump’s allies pushed for her ouster, in part over the agency’s role in disseminating the whistle- blower complaint that prompted his impeachment, according to current and former administration officials.
For weeks, Trump has been mulling whether to fire Haspel, the agency’s first female director. Despite Trump’s refusal to accept his election loss, people close to him understand that his time in office is limited and the window to remove her is dwindling.
Some officials and presidential allies believe that Haspel failed to do enough to stop the whistleblower’s complaints about Trump’s July 2019 call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, which prompted impeachment, from moving forward. Others have grown frustrated with her opposition to declassifying documents related to Russia’s 2016 election interference.
White House aides are divided over Haspel’s removal. Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, opposes it, although other officials are pushing for her dismissal, the officials said.
The CIA declined to comment.
Although Haspel had no direct role in the impeachment inquiry, it was prompted by a CIA officer who made an anonymous and indirect complaint to the agency’s general counsel and filed a whistle- blower complaint to the inspector general of the intelligence community.
Trump has acted against people he has perceived as aiding the impeachment inquiry. After the Senate acquitted the president this year, he fired Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the
European Union who testified in the inquiry, and Michael K. Atkinson, the inspector general who investigated the whistleblower complaint. The White House also effectively blocked the promotion of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council aide who was the primary witness in the impeachment hearing, leading to his retirement.
White House officials who favor Haspel’s ouster believe she has been insubordinate to John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, and boxed in the White House on the debate over whether to declassify Russia documents by sharing her concerns with Congress, the senior official said.