29-9-2023 (WASHINGTON) Dianne Feinstein, the venerable Democratic US senator from California, a staunch advocate for gun control who championed the first federal assault weapons ban and exposed the CIA’s use of torture on foreign terrorism suspects, has passed away at the age of 90, according to a reliable source familiar with the matter.
Feinstein’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment, with the initial report coming from the Punchbowl news outlet.
Feinstein was a Washington pioneer who achieved numerous milestones in her career, including becoming the first woman to lead the influential Senate Intelligence Committee.
Over her nearly 31 years in the Senate, she compiled a moderate-to-liberal record, occasionally drawing criticism from the left. Feinstein entered the Senate in 1992 after winning a special election and was re-elected five times, most recently in 2018, earning her the distinction of being the longest-serving woman senator in history.
“Dianne Feinstein was a formidable presence,” noted Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, formerly known as Twitter. “She was one of the Senate’s most influential voices, blazing a trail for generations of women who followed her into elected office. I was fortunate to have her as a role model, mentor, and dear friend.”
Guns and Politics
Guns played a pivotal role in shaping Feinstein’s political career. She ascended to the position of San Francisco mayor in 1978 following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk. Feinstein was serving as president of the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors when both men were gunned down by a former supervisor, Dan White.
Upon hearing the gunshots, she raced to Harvey Milk’s office. In the process of searching for his pulse, her finger encountered a bullet hole.
Feinstein often remarked that the horror of that experience remained with her, and she went on to author the federal ban on military-style assault weapons, which was in effect from 1994 until its expiration in 2004.
She lamented the years of congressional inaction on new gun control legislation, stating, “This is a nation obsessed with firearms, and everyone is entitled to own one,” after a mass shooting in her home state in May 2021.
Gun Control Advocacy
Feinstein spearheaded efforts for more stringent gun laws, including a renewed ban on assault-style weapons, after the 2012 mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school in which 20 children and six adults lost their lives. However, the legislation faced fierce opposition from Republicans and gun rights proponents and was ultimately defeated in the Senate.
Health Challenges
In the later stages of her career, health issues began to affect Feinstein. She held the distinction of being the oldest serving senator at the time. In February 2023, she announced that she would not seek re-election the following year, and she was sidelined from Congress for three months until May of that year due to an illness that included shingles and complications, including encephalitis and Ramsay Hunt Syndrome.
Exposing CIA Torture
During her tenure as chair of the Intelligence Committee, Feinstein overcame resistance from national security officials and Republican lawmakers in 2014 to release a report documenting the CIA’s secret overseas detention and interrogation of foreign terrorism suspects following the September 11, 2001, hijackings by al Qaeda militants.
Feinstein stated, “The CIA’s actions are a stain on our values and our history,” defending the release of a report that exposed the CIA’s use of “coercive interrogation techniques in some cases amounting to torture” on at least 119 detainees.
She added, “History will judge us by our commitment to a just society governed by law and the willingness to face an ugly truth and say, ‘Never again.'”
The report described interrogation methods such as waterboarding, sleep deprivation, painful stress positions, “rectal feeding,” and “rectal hydration.”
Although the CIA argued that these practices had saved lives, the report concluded that such techniques had not played a role in thwarting any terrorism plots, capturing militant leaders, or locating al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who was killed by American forces in Pakistan in 2011.
Feinstein defended US surveillance programs disclosed in 2013 by National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden, whom she labelled “a traitor.”
She explained, “It’s about safeguarding America,” in reference to the NSA’s electronic surveillance of telephone data and internet communications, which critics deemed an extensive government overreach.
Political Stances
During the presidency of Republican George W. Bush, Feinstein initially supported the 2002 resolution to authorize the Iraq war but later expressed regret for her vote. She endorsed the Patriot Act to aid in tracking terrorism suspects but criticized Bush for authorizing surveillance of US residents without court approval.
At times, those on the left accused her of being insufficiently liberal or not sufficiently antagonistic towards Republicans. In a notable incident, some liberal activists called for her resignation in 2020 after she hugged Republican Senator Lindsey Graham following a Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing for conservative Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett, appointed by then-President Donald Trump.
In 2021, she sharply criticized Trump after his supporters attacked the Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 election victory of Democrat Joe Biden. She argued that Trump was “responsible for this madness” for inciting individuals to violence with unfounded claims of widespread election fraud.
Feinstein’s Background
Born on June 22, 1933, Feinstein grew up in San Francisco and graduated from Stanford University. She was elected to the San Francisco County Board of Supervisors in 1969, eventually becoming its president. In 1978, following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, she became San Francisco’s first female mayor and served two full terms.
In 1990, she ran for governor and secured the Democratic primary but lost in the general election to Republican Pete Wilson. In 1992, Feinstein contested and won the Senate seat previously held by Wilson, who was appointed to the position. She went on to become California’s longest-serving senator and the first woman elected to the Senate from the state.
Feinstein’s first marriage ended in divorce. Subsequently, she married Bertram Feinstein, a surgeon. Following his passing, she married Richard Blum, an investment banker, in 1980. Blum passed away in 2022.
