Is a mess according to this long piece published18 hrs. ago:

GOP lawmakers defend CIA Director Gina Haspel as Trump weighs firing her

By Zachary Cohen, Kaitlan Collins and Vivian Salama @ CNN via MSN.com, 18 hrs. ago

Several GOP lawmakers have publicly defended CIA Director Gina Haspel in recent days as it has become increasingly clear that President Donald Trump is considering firing her as part of his post-election government purge.

But outside of Capitol Hill, there are conflicting views about whether Trump should follow through with his threat to oust Haspel, and competing factions within the administration are lobbying the President accordingly.

Some of the President's top advisers, including national security adviser Robert O'Brien, have urged him to hold off on firing the CIA director, siding with a host of congressional Republicans who have publicly voiced support for Haspel.

But at the same time, several people inside the White House are pushing for her removal, multiple sources told CNN on Thursday, encouraging Trump to fire her as he did Defense Secretary Mark Esper earlier this week.

Some Trump advisers believe Haspel has been "insubordinate" to both the President and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, arguing she routinely circumvents the chain of command to further her own agenda and that of the CIA, one source familiar with the situation told CNN.

A source familiar with internal discussions about Haspel's job status told CNN that some officials have taken issue with her for, at times, going to Capitol Hill and briefing members on internal executive branch discussions before the President or Ratcliffe had come to a final decision.

"She did this without asking other principals involved what they were thinking. ... It was an attempt to pressure the White House towards a certain outcome that she wanted," the source said.

Internal fight over declassifying Russia documents

CNN previously reported that Trump and several of his allies have also become increasingly frustrated with Haspel for pushing back on the declassification of sensitive documents related to the FBI's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election -- at times clashing with Ratcliffe and other influential advisers who have advocated their release.

The President believes the documents in question will undermine the intelligence community's unanimous finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 race to help him win -- exposing so-called "deep state" plots against his campaign and transition during the Obama administration, according to multiple current and former officials.

But CIA and National Security Agency career officials, including Haspel, have strenuously objected to releasing certain information from the Russia interference assessment, arguing that it would seriously damage sources and methods in a way that the intelligence community doesn't believe can be easily repaired.

Both agencies have also cited concerns about cherry-picking information to release and the politicization of their work as they fight against Ratcliffe's recent efforts to satisfy Trump's promises to declassify thousands of pages of documents.

The standoff has led Trump and some in his orbit to blame Haspel for delaying the release of these documents despite the fact that the President and Ratcliffe have the authority to declassify additional intelligence at their own discretion.

At the end of the day, if Trump wanted these documents declassified, he could do it himself, but a source with firsthand knowledge of the situation told CNN the President and Ratcliffe want it on Haspel's head "for political reasons."

"Everyone involved wants what's best for national security, but how is it good for national security for a president to be expected to keep a CIA director that he doesn't trust and have faith in? The relationship with the president is the entire basis of a CIA director's effectiveness and that has clearly broken down," they added.

A senior administration official echoed that point, telling CNN that trust between the White House and the CIA has "completely broken down."

Trip to Capitol Hill irks Trump allies

Haspel's trip to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, where she met with members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, only reinforced that view, according to multiple sources

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