President Trump's nominee for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens to the President communicate to the media earlier than a gathering together with his cupboard within the Cupboard Room of the White Home in Washington April 9, 2018.
CIA Director Mike Pompeo, President Trump's choice to lead the State Department, faces senators at his confirmation hearing Thursday as risky crises loom with Russia, China, and Iran.
Mike Pompeo is expected to face a tough confirmation hearing on Thursday - but more unsafe hurdles await him as secretary of state. "I would prefer achieving the president's foreign policy goals with unrelenting diplomacy rather than by sending young men and women to war", he will say.
"Russia continues to act aggressively, enabled by years of soft policy towards that aggression", Pompeo will say, according to excerpts released on the eve of his nomination hearing.
-5 CallsIt will not be the first time Senate Democrats have been forced to vote on whether Pompeo-a "committed Islamophobe", climate denier, and war hawk-should head one of the government's most prominent departments. Pompeo would not say especially if he would recommend a withdrawal if there is absolutely no cure by Trump's might 12 deadline, implying there would possibly be a extension if considerable progress was being made by then.
Pompeo didn't respond to the latter question, but said he shared the president's view that the Paris accords place "an undue burden" on the U.S.
Former CIA director Mike Pompeo is anticipated to face a testy Senate affirmation listening to Thursday as he vies to turn into the subsequent secretary of state.
Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., took Pompeo to task over for saying previously that Muslims have a special obligation to denounce extremism and for his longstanding position that gays should not be able to marry. If the Senate acts very fast, Pompeo can start that effort this month at the Group of Seven ministerial meeting on April 22 and the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ministerial meeting later that week, he will say.
"If there's an inconsistency in his questionnaire, that would be a matter of major interest", Cardin said. It's unclear at this time if Pompeo even has the votes to clear the 21-member panel since Paul, as a member of the committee, is a "no". In recent briefings with State Department staffers "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", he said. Pompeo declined to comment on his private conversations with president, which Menendez called "troubling".
Based on his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, here are the top takeaways from Pompeo on key challenges facing the United States. "Even after May 12th, even after May 12th, there's still much diplomatic work to be done".
Last month, Trump dismissed Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and nominated Pompeo to become his new chief diplomat. Pompeo responded that he thought Trump's course of action there has been the right one - that the US has the goal of leaving but can't do so until there is more stability in the country. Analyzing Russian President Vladimir Putin's ambitions, Pompeo said he sees him as determined to undermine democracy in the West.
The most senior lawmakers on the committee both touched on Pompeo's relationship with Trump, and specifically on the question of whether he will stand up to the President.
Pompeo, a former conservative Tea Party congressman, has developed a close relationship with Trump and is perceived as being a more fervent believer in Trump's America First approach.
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