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Ray McGovern, who worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, disrupted the Senate confirmation hearing for CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, protesting her overseeing of torture. Police threw the 78-year-old whistleblower to the ground, dislocating his arm.


Story Transcript

BEN NORTON: When veteran CIA officer Ray McGovern protested at the Senate confirmation hearing for Gina Haspel, President Donald Trump’s nominee for CIA director, Capitol police responded by violently brutalizing the 78-year-old whistleblower.

McGovern worked as a CIA analyst for 27 years, and prepared the presidential daily brief for Ronald Reagan. Since leaving the agency, McGovern has become an outspoken activist.

He disrupted the Senate confirmation hearing for Gina Haspel on Wednesday, May 9. McGovern condemned Hapsel for overseeing a CIA black site, a secret prison in Thailand where detainees were tortured, and where the CIA destroyed evidence of that torture.

Alli McCracken, a campaigner for Amnesty International, captured video of the police violently pulling the elderly CIA whistleblower out of the hearing. The human rights campaigner told the police, “Shame on you for hurting him. That was unnecessarily excessive.”

McGovern told the cops, “I wish you wouldn’t beat up an old man.”


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Ray McGovern

Ray McGovern is a retired CIA officer and was employed under seven US presidents for over 27 years, presenting the morning intelligence briefings at the White House under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.