Gina Haspel

Last month reports leaked that communications aide Kelly Sadler had disparaged John McCain for urging senators to vote against Gina Haspel's nomination as CIA director, saying "he's dying anyway."

Haspel faced criticism for her role in the agency's waterboarding program. But several Senate Democrats joined almost all the Republicans to confirm her as the first woman to lead the CIA.

The nominee to be CIA director makes her remarks in a letter that brings immediate support from three Democractic senators. She now appears to have sufficient backing to win Senate confirmation.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed says he has information that could be relevant to Gina Haspel's nomination as CIA director. After his capture, Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times by the CIA.

The remark, attributed to Kelly Sadler, a special assistant to President Trump, was first reported by The Hill and later confirmed by The Associated Press.

"I absolutely was an advocate" for destroying CIA interrogation tapes in 2005, Haspel said, if the act was found to be "conforming to U.S. law."

Gina Haspel's prepared remarks say that "under my leadership CIA will not restart such a detention and interrogation program." She was at a CIA prison where prisoners were waterboarded.

Haspel is the first woman nominated for the CIA's top job. Her covert career and links to waterboarding will likely make for an unusual Senate confirmation hearing with an uncertain outcome.

Most stories about Haspel, the nominee to lead the agency, focus on her controversial role in the CIA's waterboarding program. The CIA is attempting to counter that with a biography and testimonials.