meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Today, Explained

"We tortured some folks"

Today, Explained

Vox

News, Daily News, Politics

4.3 • 10.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 May 2018

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tomorrow is the Senate confirmation hearing for Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the C.I.A. The 33-year veteran of the organization would be its first female director, but standing in her way are reports of her involvement in torture programs and secret prisons after September 11. Vox’s Jenn Williams explains Haspel’s shadowy history, and why she almost backed out of her nomination. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

All right, Sean, here we are. Here we are at mattress firm.

0:05.0

I think it's locked. Did you check the hours before we came here?

0:10.0

Oh, whoops! Oh, no!

0:13.0

Oh, man. All right. Well, what should we do now?

0:17.0

I don't know. Go to mattress firm.com slash podcast and use the coupon code podcast 10

0:22.0

to get 10% off of mattress. Should we just do that?

0:24.0

I mean, but then you never get to triumph, right?

0:26.0

It's true. I never did get to triumph. I just got to watch you enjoy trying them.

0:29.0

I do want to do that. Should we try another mattress firm?

0:32.0

I know the next one. It's just a few miles down the road.

0:36.0

Okay. I guess we're taking a log walk.

0:46.0

Jen Williams, deputy foreign and national security editor here at Vox. Welcome.

0:50.0

Hi. Gina Haspel, not exactly a household name, but about to be one. Who is she?

0:55.0

Right. So she is president Donald Trump's pick to be the next director of the CIA.

1:00.0

She's 61 years old. She's a she.

1:04.0

She would be the first female director of the CIA.

1:07.0

Haspel has worked at the CIA for 33 years and spent most of her career under cover.

1:12.0

For the first day in the agency's counterterrorism center was faithfully September 11, 2001.

1:19.0

So almost a second after it was announced that Gina Haspel would be the candidate to replace Mike Pompeo,

1:29.0

who's an asset to her state, this information that she may have presided over this black site in Thailand came up, like in 2002.

1:37.0

What is a black site?

1:39.0

So a black site was this kind of creation during the Bush administration, the war on terror, right?

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Vox, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Vox and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.