Sen. Tom Cotton on Friday slammed Republican colleague Rand Paul for opposing President Trump’s nominee to lead the CIA.

“Wrong again, @RandPaul. Gina Haspel was cleared of wrongdoing in destruction of those tapes by none other than @MichaelJMorell. An honest explanation for undermining @realDonaldTrump choices for national-security team would be nice for once,” the Arkansas senator tweeted.

He included a link to a Politico piece on Mr. Paul and his complaint about Gina Haspel’s reported connection to enhanced interrogation techniques for terrorist suspects. An article published Thursday in ProPublica reported that Ms. Haspel was tied to a Thailand base thought to be the site where these techniques were used, but parts of the story have since been retracted.

Mr. Paul, who had referenced the report during a press conference this week, still plans on opposing her even with the retraction, an aide for the Kentucky senator told Politico.

“Senator Rand Paul was quoting a Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter. Regardless of the retraction of one anecdote, the fact remains that Gina Haspel was instrumental in running a place where people were tortured,” said Doug Stafford, spokesman for Mr. Paul, in a statement.

Mr. Trump nominated Ms. Haspel after announcing that current CIA Director Mike Pompeo would move over to head the State Department after Rex Tillerson’s dismissal.

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