WASHINGTON — Senator Joe Donnelly, Democrat of Indiana, announced Saturday his support for Gina Haspel’s nomination to be CIA director, providing a crucial second Democratic vote that should give her enough support for confirmation.
Haspel has been working to overcome questions about her role in last decade’s controversial interrogation program.
Donnelly, who met with Haspel on Thursday, said in a statement that he had ‘‘a tough, frank, and extensive discussion’’ with her, both about her vision for the agency and about its past use of ‘‘enhanced’’ interrogations against terrorist captives, including methods such as waterboarding that are widely considered torture.
During her confirmation hearing, Haspel pledged to abide by current law that forbids those methods and that she would reject an order from President Trump to use those techniques against a terrorist now.
‘‘I believe that she has learned from the past, and that the CIA under her leadership can help our country confront serious international threats and challenges,’’ Donnelly said in the statement released Saturday morning.
He also cited her support from the CIA directors who served in the Obama administration as a reason for backing Haspel.
Donnelly joins Senator Joe Manchin III of West Virginia as the only other Democrat to announce support for Haspel, both of whom hail from states that Trump won by overwhelming margins.
Donnelly and Manchin are both up for reelection in November, and Trump appeared at a political rally Thursday in Indiana in which he singled out Donnelly and called on voters to support the Republican nominee, Mike Braun.
So far, Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky and John McCain of Arizona are the only Republicans opposing Haspel’s nomination. McCain is not expected to be in Washington for the vote later this month as he battles an aggressive form of brain cancer.
Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona is the only other Republican who is publicly considering opposing Haspel, in part because of his respect for McCain, a former prisoner of war. ‘‘I've always shared McCain’s views on torture and looked up to him on this,’’ he told reporters this week.
A few other centrist Democrats have not indicated how they will vote on the CIA nominee.
Even if they all oppose her, and Flake joins the opposition, Haspel should have 50 votes for her confirmation, the bare minimum needed to win.
The GOP holds a 51-to-49 edge, and Vice President Mike Pence can break a possible tie.
Haspel’s nomination has renewed the fierce debate over torture from last decade, in which McCain led the fight to outlaw the techniques that the George W. Bush administration allowed CIA interrogators to use in so-called black sites around the world after the 9/11 attacks.
Haspel delivered an order from her superior to other agency officials to destroy videotapes of the interrogations, including the waterboarding of one of the top Qaeda operatives.
Trump was joined at the Indiana campaign rally by Pence, a former Indiana governor, and urged GOP voters to mobilize and prevent Democrats from regaining control of Congress.
The president called Donnelly ‘‘Sleepin’ Joe’’ and criticized the senator for opposing his tax plan and attempt to end the Affordable Care Act.
Donnelly responded by saying, ‘‘Problems only get solved when you roll up your sleeves and put in the hard work,’’ and his campaign said he had voted with Trump 62 percent of the time.
From his home in Sedona, Ariz., where he is receiving treatment for an aggressive and typically fatal type of brain cancer, McCain declared his opposition to Haspel on Wednesday.
McCain’s decision has revived the debate over torture and its effectiveness in extracting information in the 16 years since the Sept. 11 attacks.
McCain was held for 5½ years in a North Vietnamese prison, often deprived of sleep, food, and medical care, after a jet he piloted was shot down over Hanoi.
