(Washington) The dean of the US Senate Dianne Feinstein, a historic figure in the Democratic Party, has died at the age of 90, US media announced on Friday.
The first female mayor of San Francisco before serving as a California senator for more than 30 years, Mme Feinstein was recognized as a tenacious politician and an influential pillar of the upper house of Congress.
But she had been criticized by the left of the Democratic Party for several months after a journalistic investigation which highlighted her cognitive decline.
Punchbowl News, a media outlet specializing in news from the American Congress, provided the information, as did a local ABC channel. The senator voted again in Congress Thursday morning.
She announced her political retirement in February, indicating that she would not run again in the 2024 elections.
PHOTO KENT NISHIMURA, THE NEW YORK TIMES ARCHIVES
Dianne Feinstein spoke at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on judicial nominations September 6 in Washington.
President Joe Biden then praised the qualities of Dianne Feinstein, a “close friend”, particularly mentioning her role as a pioneer for women in politics.
Death of Harvey Milk
Dianne Feinstein was mayor of San Francisco for 10 years, after the assassination in 1978 of her predecessor George Moscone and of the politician Harvey Milk, a figure of the gay movement, a tragedy during which this woman was able to show her determination.
In the Senate, she notably passed a ban – for ten years – on assault rifles in 1994.
She also supported George W. Bush’s war in Iraq and emerged as an influential member of the Intelligence Committee. His report of several thousand pages demonstrating the CIA’s lies about torture in the context of the “war on terrorism” has gone down in history.
PHOTO ARCHIVES REUTERS
Dianne Feinstein discussed a report released by the Intelligence Committee on the CIA’s counterterrorism tactics in a speech before the Senate on December 9, 2014 in Washington.
The California senator has played a leading role in the consideration of hundreds of laws during her career.
In recent years, however, the elected official has eroded her political benefit due to persistent doubts about her consistency, often expressed by her own camp.
Former parliamentary aides have described episodes of mental confusion, reported in an article in New Yorker end of 2020. Her memory lapses also came to light at that time during the hearing of ex-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey before the Senate: she asked him the same question, word for word, two times in a row.
His case was regularly cited during debates on the old age of many elected officials in the United States.
President Joe Biden, who is running, is 80 years old, and his competitor and predecessor Donald Trump, 77 years old. The former Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, 83, announced in early September that she would be a candidate again in California.