Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks, would reportedly like to brief Congress about Gina Haspel’s nomination to be CIA director.
But at least one senator, Arkansas’ Tom Cotton, is firmly in the “no” camp.
“Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, can testify to the Intelligence Committee after every 9/11 widow, widower, & child testifies about what they think of him vs. Gina Haspel & the CIA,” Cotton tweeted on Tuesday. “Until then, he can rot at Gitmo & then he can rot in hell.”
Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, can testify to the Intelligence Committee after every 9/11 widow, widower, & child testifies about what they think of him vs. Gina Haspel & the CIA. Until then, he can rot at Gitmo & then he can rot in hell. https://t.co/LQ5U10zUCL
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) May 8, 2018
Mohammed currently resides in the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay. He was brought there in 2006 after being imprisoned in a series of CIA black sites since his March 2003 capture in Pakistan. The use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” on Mohammed and others have drawn scrutiny to the choice of Haspel, who oversaw the program for a time as the CIA’s deputy director for 33 years, as the agency’s new director.
The New York Times reports that Mohammed has asked a Guantanamo Bay military judge to share share six paragraphs of information on Haspel with the Senate.