Fox News "Gina Haspel" - Transcript: Cotton: Gina Haspel has been keeping US safe for 30 years

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MACCALLUM: -- the observation there about how different this same process might be under, perhaps, the Democratic leadership, or Democratic leadership that would've appointed her. Why do you think we find ourselves in that situation where you've got a person who has unique qualifications and she would be treated completely differently under different president?

COTTON: Martha, the answer is very simple, politics. Gina Haspel has served 33 years in the CIA keeping our country safe from the Russian threats now and during the Soviet era as well as from terrorists, raising her hand in the aftermath of 9/11 saying that I'll go to the counterterrorism center when she could've docked that taken easier duty. That's one of the reasons why so many of the intelligence leaders of the Obama administrators support her -- John Brennan, Jim Clapper, Michael Morell, Leon Panetta. These are people who served under Barack Obama. As far as I can tell, the only Democrats who oppose Gina Haspel are in the Senate, and I guess it's because they are blinded by their insane hatred for President Trump. But in the end, there will be a handful of Democrats that join near-unanimous Republican support and confirm Gina Haspel as our next and first female CIA director.

MACCALLUM: Do you expect that all the Republicans on your committee and all the Republicans in the Senate will vote for her?

COTTON: Gina will be confirmed in the Senate Intelligence Committee with a bipartisan vote. I believe every Republican will support her, at least one Democrat, Joe Manchin, announced his support today. And then on the Senate floor I'm only aware of one person who's announced his opposition in our party, that would be Rand Paul. Hopefully, the president can persuade Rand to support Gina Haspel as he ultimately supported Mike Pompeo. But I do believe many of the Democrats that supported Mike Pompeo will support Gina Haspel because they recognize -- she's a career professional. If she had been nominated by Barack Obama or by Hillary Clinton, she would've gotten 80 or 90 votes, no one disputes that.

MACCALLUM: I mean, it's fascinating to listen to the questioning today about the tactics that were used after 9/11. And perhaps one of the most shocking comments to come out was from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed himself, who expressed the fact that he would like to weigh in, he'd like to submit his thoughts on Gina Haspel before this committee. And you tweeted this: "Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind can testify to the Intelligence Committee after every 9/11 widow, widower, and child, testifies about what they think of him versus Gina Haspel and the CIA. Until then, he can rot at Gitmo and he can rot in hell." I mean, the moral equivalency that we've seen during this process, I think is really highlighted, I guess, by that ridiculous statement from him.

COTTON: Yes, I think it's important to remember that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind of 3,000 Americans deaths on 9/11. He also sought the head off Danny Pearl, an American journalist who was taken hostage right around 9/11. This is the worst of the worst. Gina Haspel helped coax some of his confessions out of him, just through ordinary debriefing techniques. That's how skilled she is. And that's why it is really is disappointing that so many of these Senate Democrats are impugning her for her very skilled, brave, patriotic behavior in the aftermath of 9/11. She was conducting programs that were directed by the commander in chief, approved by the attorney general and supported by the Democratic director of the CIA.

MACCALLUM: Senator, you served in Afghanistan. Why do you think that for some people, the memory is so short of what the 9/11 period was like in this country?

COTTON: I don't know, Martha. I do believe that this is primarily partisan and particularly directed against the president. Again, when you have John Brennan, and Jim Clapper, and Leon Panetta, and Michael Morell supporting Gina's nomination, it just goes to show to you that any Democrat who is not seized with blind hatred of the president, recognized that Gina is probably the most qualified nominee we've ever had to be the director of the CIA.

MACCALLUM: Senator Tom Cotton, always good to see you, sir. Thanks for coming on 'The Story' tonight.

COTTON: Thank you, Martha.

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