Mike Pompeo is planning to call Russia “a danger to our country” at his Thursday Senate hearing for confirmation as Secretary of State. According to a copy of his opening remarks obtained by The Associated Press, Pompeo will tell the Senators that the days of soft policy by the U.S. toward Russia are “now over.”
The testimony comes as tension between the U.S. and Russia are escalating over an alleged chemical attack in Syria for which President Donald Trump blamed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his closest ally Russia.
Pompeo, who was nominated by Trump last month after former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was fired, wants to take over at the State Department after being the CIA Director during the first year of Trump’s presidency.
According to excerpts released by the White House, the former intelligence chief will also inform the Senate panel that he will end the “demoralizing” vacancies of top diplomats after a series of departures over the past year. Pompeo apparently consulted on replenishing the top diplomatic staff with former secretaries of state whom he reached out to prior to the hearing, even including Hillary Clinton.
“In a recent series of Department briefings with team members at State, they all, to a person, expressed a hope to be empowered in their roles, and to have a clear understanding of the President’s mission. That will be my first priority,” he plans to say before Congress.
“They also shared how demoralizing it is to have so many vacancies and, frankly, not to feel relevant. I’ll do my part to end the vacancies, but I’ll need your help.”
One week before Pompeo’s hearing the administration approved new sanctions on seven influential Russian oligarchs with ties to the Russian government, under a law passed by Congress to punish Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
U.S. and Russia have expelled diplomats from each other’s countries in recent times as a result of the alleged poisoning of a former Russian double agent on British soil, a claim that the Russian government denies and says is a Western plot meant to undermine Moscow.
Pompeo is also planning to say that the diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Russia “must continue” despite being “challenging.”
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