Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo was endorsed Monday by a Senate committee, after President Donald Trump and a Democratic senator intervened at the last moment, sending him to the full Senate for his expected confirmation later this week.
The Foreign Relations Committee confirmed Pompeo 11-10 along party lines, even though all of the panel’s Democrats and Senator Rand Paul had previously said they would vote against him. That would have faced Pompeo with a public rebuke and President Trump with an embarrassing defeat.
However, Paul reversed himself after he had “received assurances” about Pompeo from a lobbying campaign and from the President.
“President Trump believes that Iraq was a mistake, that regime change has destabilized the region, and that we must end our involvement with Afghanistan,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “Having received assurances from President Trump and Director Pompeo that he agrees with the President on these important issues, I have decided to support his nomination to be our next Secretary of State.”
The main reason for Paul’s opposition was the concern that Pompeo wouldn’t back Trump’s campaign pledge to pull troops out of Afghanistan, in addition to concerns about the use of military force, specifically in Iran. Some Democrats also cited his temperament, past statements and views on the use of military force.
However, the CIA director would have been confirmed even without Paul’s vote as he had secured enough votes earlier in the day, when two Democrats announced that they would back his nomination on the floor, The Washington Post writes.
Republicans maintain that Pompeo is a capable nominee who deserves to be confirmed.
“The President deserves to have a secretary of state that agrees with him or her in general on a foreign-policy direction. It’s the only way they can be expected to conduct the foreign policy of this country,” said Senator Marco Rubio shortly before the vote. He added, “I cannot imagine a better nominee at this moment.”
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