Hayden suggested on 'Fox News Sunday' that the senator is 'emotional.' | AP Photos Hayden under fire for comment

Senate Democrats ripped former CIA Director Michael Hayden on Monday for describing Sen. Dianne Feinstein as “emotional,” calling Hayden’s remarks both a “baseless smear” and condescending.

Hayden on Sunday said the Senate Intelligence chairwoman may have been motivated by a “deep, emotional feeling” in her move last week to declassify a five-year investigation into the Central Intelligence Agency’s detention and interrogation policies. He concluded the report may not be objective, though the report’s findings have not yet been been made public and Hayden said he hadn’t read it.


Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Hayden’s comments are emblematic of “Republicans’ disregard for women as displayed here in Washington.” Hayden led the CIA from 2006 until 2009 and the Intelligence Committee’s report is expected to be sharply critical of the interrogation techniques overseen during his service. Democrats have repeatedly referred to them as “torture.”

( Also on POLITICO: Hayden suggests that Feinstein is 'emotional')

“Gen. Hayden condescendingly accused Sen. Dianne Feinstein of being too emotional. How about that?” Reid said. “This woman has been [an] outstanding leader of that Intelligence Committee. She has been fearless, she has been thorough and fair. And for this man to say that because she criticized tactics led by Gen. Hayden — that it was torture — she’s being too emotional? I don’t think so. Does this sound like a person or a party that respects women?”

Asked about Hayden’s remarks on Monday , Feinstein said: “I have one word: it’s nonsense. I have no doubt that there are very powerful people who don’t want this report out.” She declined to characterize his remarks as sexist.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), who serves on the Intelligence panel with Feinstein, said Hayden’s remarks amounted to a “baseless smear.”

“I highly doubt he would call a male chairman too ‘emotional’ and to do so with Chairman Feinstein is unacceptable,” Udall said. “The fact that former Director Hayden questions the objectivity of the committee’s study at the same time that he freely admits that he hasn’t read it demonstrates particular gall.”

Hayden also did Senate Republicans no favor as Democrats dare the GOP to block the Paycheck Fairness Act on Wednesday. That bill seeks to cut down on pay inequality between men and women and Democrats rolled out a party-wide messaging push on Monday ahead of Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, hoping to make election-year hay of the issue if Republicans reject the bill.