Ladies and gentlemen, here’s the professionalism and unbiased perspective of a Washington Post reporter at work. After the announcement by the Trump Administration that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State, and Pompeo’s #2, Gina Haspel, would replace Pompeo at the CIA, becoming the first woman in history to hold that job, Washington Post reporter Erica Werner gave her unvarnished opinion on the matter:
Werner’s callous disregard for objectivity isn’t surprising; leftists have had their knives out for Haspel for some time. In 2017, The New York Times reported that in 2002 Haspel oversaw the torture of terrorists Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and her name was on the cable ordering the destruction of the videotapes of their interrogations, although the CIA stated that it was Haspel’s boss at the time, Jose Rodriguez, who was the head of the CIA’s clandestine service, who ordered the tapes destroyed.
Yet when Haspel was promoted to the #2 spot under Pompeo in 2017, even former Obama administration officials cheered the appointment. James R. Clapper Jr., the former director of national intelligence, said he was “very pleased,” and Michael J. Morell, who twice served as the CIA’s acting director, echoed, “I applaud the appointment.”
Pompeo was likely one of the toughest, if not the toughest, interrogators of Hillary Clinton during her October 2015 appearance before the House Select Committee on Benghazi. He and Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio publicly stated they believed there had been a cover-up. They added a 48-page addendum to the House Select Committee on Benghazi report that said the attacks showed the State Department was “seemingly more concerned with politics and Secretary Clinton’s legacy than with protecting its people in Benghazi.”
Yet even someone as partisan as Democrat Rep. Adam B. Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called Pompeo “bright and hard-working,” adding, “While we have had our share of strong differences — principally on the politicization of the tragedy in Benghazi — I know that he is someone who is willing to listen and engage, both key qualities in a CIA director.”