president Trump's picked to lead the CIA facing a grilling this week on Capitol
Hill Gina Haspel a 33 year veteran of the spy agency testified Wednesday
before the Senate Intelligence Committee ahead of a confirmation vote there next
week Haspel facing combative questions over her role in the CIA's post 9-11
interrogation program do you believe that the previous interrogation
techniques were immoral senator I believe that CIA officers to whom you
referred it's a yes or no answer senator I believe that CIA extraordinary work to
prevent another attack on this country given the legal tools that we were
authorizing answer yes or no we're back Afghan Henninger Mary Kissel and Wall
Street Journal editorial page writer Kate bachelder Odelle all right Mary so
what did you make of that exchange with with Senator Harris I think it's a red
herring frankly Paul I cannot believe that Democratic senators are relitigated
a debate that the American people had more than a decade ago Gina Haspel did
not put that interrogation program into place it was legal when it was carried
out by her and then we had a great debate about it and we decided to roll
back some of those interrogation techniques and I think she was right to
defend the CIA officers who were carrying out their duty in a
constitutional and legal fashion kit you saw the hearing and there was some
suggestion beforehand that it was gonna be really worse than it went pretty well
for a spell did that I think it did I mean she addressed these allegations on
enhanced her interrogation in her opening statement and did so clearly and
articulately and said I don't support bringing back such a program it is
against the law if Congress were to try to change the law I wouldn't support
that either and she was very direct and clear and Kamala Harris is asking her to
go back in time and be clairvoyant that the law and public a chin yin opinion
would shift in such a way yeah and well and she and Haspel in particular ran and
interrogated in Thailand which dealt with some some
al-qaeda detainees and got some pretty useful information she did I also would
add just what a partisan farce all of this is there are 36 Democrats who are
still in the Senate who voted for John Brennan in 2013 to PCI to be CIA
director and John Brennan oversaw this program more closely than Gina Haspel
did at the time and and for some reason now Gina Haskell is being declared
unqualified but last-minute entry here in the debate john mccain obviously has
a unique personal history having been tortured himself in a prison and vietnam
speaks with i think unique amoral authority on this and he said he's going
to vote against Haspel how is that going to influence the the vote well it is
worth noting that he and rand paul are on the same side of this question rand
paul also said that he is not going to vote for Gina Haskell but so far we do
have a couple Democrats who are willing to support her so I do think that she's
going to get through and John McCain unfortunately is ill and will not be
there to physically vote against her so we think but so I don't think I don't
think ultimately it holds up her nomination and Lindsey Graham who is
often John McCain's comrade on these questions of interrogation he's broken
with John McCain on the city he's going to vote for for Haspel yes and I think
Lindsey Graham has the better of the argument on her qualifications right Dan
tell you anything about the Democrats here all of this this debate because I
assume she's going to get through yeah Paul tells me a lot about the Democrats
it tells me on the one hand they're going to pose any nominee that Donald
Trump puts up there and I think that's beginning to energize Republicans out
there in the country probably showed up in the primaries the second thing that
occurs to me though Paul is Kamala Harris wasn't the only one raising that
question senator Martin Heinrich Democrat of New Mexico said to her where
is your moral compass on what basis do the Democrats irrigate this kind of
moral condescension to themselves over a woman who was fighting a war against Al
Qaeda after they killed 3,000 Americans in hindsight it does make you
wonder where the Democrats the current Democratic Party stands on the issue of
national security and it's a political issue do you want to turn national
security over to the sorts of people who are interrogating Gina Haskell or to
Gina Hass well I think I would go with Miss has bolts all right thank you all
still ahead Tuesday's primaries in Ohio Indiana and West Virginia seen as a
boost to the Republicans as they battled to maintain control of the Senate this
November what the GOP learned from this week's contest when we come back
this Indiana will face an important choice you can send a really incredible
swamp person back to the Senate like Joe Donnelly or you can send us Republicans
like micron to drain the swamp that was President Trump Thursday and I had a
rally in Elkhart Indiana giving a plugged a businessman and GOP Senate
candidate Mike Brown who won the primary there on Tuesday primary results in the
Hoosier State as well as in Ohio and West Virginia seen as maybe boosting
Republican chances of holding the Senate this November we're back with Dan
Henninger Kim Strasse and Wall Street Journal editorial board member Alicia
Finley so what's the lesson for the Senate here they did they improve their
chances well I think they definitely did by nominating cannons they're more
viable that can actually be Democrats in West Virginia you had the AG Morsi beat
Democratic congressman and he's a state attorney Attorney General beat the coal
Baron or who was in prison for a year blakenship and he probably stood no
chance Blankenship had he woman yeah how do you want he stood no chance of being
Jang man ok and in Indiana Mike brought outsider he'd be two congressmen so
they're voters in Indiana Republican voters are still looking for somebody to
change things in Washington what about bran though he's a rookie he
hasn't done this before I assume his record as a businessman CEO is going to
be exhumed in every detail by the Democrats right I mean he's probably
gonna get the Mitt Romney treatment here though he runs an automotive parts
business I think people in Indiana especially
with the tariffs are starting to realize how important trade actually is and
supply chains are so I don't think that is going to be used against him as
Democrats are hoping and I think he's does stand a strong chance against Joe
Donnelly what about the anti McConnell which makalah the majority leader
strategy some people have been trying like Blankenship it worked in Alabama
rollin Roy Moore you stick but is it it is it as a fading as a strategy well it
seems so in West Virginia and I don't think it's really being played in a lot
of the other primaries I think or I would hope the Republican voters are
realizing maybe after the passage of tax reform that McConnell and president
rumpus share a lot of the same policy goals
all right Kim but the word in the house is not so good I think the Republicans
may have set themselves up for a go for losing a seat in North Carolina when
they out stood a sitting congressman in favor of a challenger why don't you
explain what happened there yeah so down in North Carolina this district you had
Robert Pittenger who was the incumbent he was beaten by a somewhat fiery pastor
they'd run and matched up against each other before this time this guy won and
and this is very much a seat that would have been safe likely if it was in the
incumbent but now the new Republican is going to face Dan McReady who's a
Democrat who's a moderate much more down the middle and this is the kind of
strategy Democrats have been exercising across the country we saw it in
Pennsylvania with their candidate in Connor Lam they're trying to pick
candidates that fit the district and this guy has a very good shot of winning
over this middle-of-the-road district in North Carolina dan interesting result
too in Ohio you have Mike DeWine winning the governor's race there
to be the Republican nominee former two-term senator I think or at least one
term senator and he's gonna run against Richard Cordray the former head of the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau who Alisha has been torturing for about four
or five years with her FairPoint we've been giving it back
what do you but it looks like that mean turnout there in Ohio Republicans had
better turnout than Democrats in the primaries which raises some questions
about just how big Democratic enthusiasm is going to be this year well we assume
Democratic enthusiasm is going to be very big it's been big that's one thing
they've had going for themselves progressives are so animated against
Donald Trump and that may serve mr. DeWine well I hope oh hi Owens don't
fall asleep during that campaign because Mike DeWine and Richard Cordray are two
of the least inspiring public figures you could encounter but be that as it
may the big thing that I think we saw here is Republicans are beginning to get
interested in this race the polling suggests their enthusiasm is growing and
I believe that's what Donald Trump is recognized that's why he's going out and
doing these rallies like he did in Elkhart he knows that he needs more
turnout from Republicans and we have seen just in this past week at least two
polls show that the generic ballot Republican versus conservative has
really really tightened it's below six three in one poll one in the Reuters
poll and that means it's going to be very competitive all right Dan we have
to take one more break when we come back hits and misses of the week
you
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