National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden has jumped into the fray over Donald Trump’s pick to head the CIA and her role in the CIA’s waterboarding program.

Current CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel was reportedly involved in a controversial CIA “black site” operation in Thailand that involved waterboarding detainees, and she was accused of destroying evidence of the gruesome operation. A number of legislators have raised concerns about Haspel. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has said he won’t confirm the “head cheerleader for waterboarding” to replace Mike Pompeo, who has been tapped by Trump to become secretary of state after the firing of Rex Tillerson.

Snowden joined the debate Thursday on Twitter, knocking down glowing reviews of Haspel by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). Cheney said Haspel has “spent her career defending the American people.” She said Paul, on the other hand, is “defending terrorists.”

Cheney is the daughter of Dick Cheney, the former vice president under George W. Bush, who blasted Snowden as a “traitor” after the NSA contractor released secret documents about the agency’s extensive surveillance of U.S. citizens and world leaders. Snowden was granted asylum in 2013 in Russia, where he currently lives. He faces treason charges in the U.S.

Snowden shot down as “an easily demonstrable lie” Liz Cheney’s claim that “enhanced interrogation” techniques were no different than those that some members of the U.S. military were subjected to as part of their Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) training. Cheney also claimed the tactics led to valuable intelligence. A 2014 Senate investigation found that torture led to no useful intelligence.

Snowden also pointed out grim details of CIA torture discovered by investigators, such as agents “assaulting” inmates with food when they went on hunger strikes. The Senate report revealed what investigators termed “rectal rehydration” using tubes filled with ground-up, uneaten meals.

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Snowden concluded: “Listen, you can defend torture or you defend the Constitution. Not both. To defend torture is to attack the Constitution.”

Liz Cheney was also criticized after she appeared to explain the benefits of “enhanced” interrogation tactics to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). McCain’s daughter, Meghan, snapped back on Thursday: “My father doesn’t need torture explained to him.” McCain was imprisoned in Hanoi during the Vietnam War for more than five years.

After Trump named Haspel as his pick for the CIA, John McCain said that the CIA torture of al Qaeda suspects in the wake of 9/11 was one of the “darkest chapters in American history.”

The Enhanced Interrogation Program saved lives, prevented attacks, & produced intel that led to Osama bin Laden. The techniques were the same as those used on our own people in the SERE program. No one should slander the brave men & women who carried out this crucial program. https://t.co/IXQuldr1R6 — Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) March 13, 2018

That's an easily demonstrable lie. The @CIA's own Inspector General admitted Gul Rahman was tortured and starved until he froze to death, which the CIA then lied about to conceal this fact. You can read the CIA's own report, thanks to the @ACLU: (https://t.co/o4AfworhjU). (1/3) https://t.co/3q5XCK5NG9 — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 15, 2018

Even the US Senate, who famously defended unconstitutional intelligence abuses, conceded after a full review of the torture program's classified records that no useful intelligence was gained via torture, no lives were saved, and no attacks were stopped. https://t.co/ggSeAOQ0Kl — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 15, 2018

The CIA threatened to rape and kill the mothers of the tortured. They went on to rape those on hunger strikes with food products, claiming it was for their health. Doctors disagreed, describing it as rape and finding it left injuries consistent with rape. https://t.co/z5cQAtMYVB — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 15, 2018

Listen, you can defend torture, or you can defend the Constitution. Not both. The 8th Amendment explicitly forbids torture with all forms of cruel and unusual punishment. To defend torture is to attack the Constitution. — Edward Snowden (@Snowden) March 15, 2018

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