Battle ahead for Trump nominees
Back in 2017, the Senate gave quick confirmation to President Donald Trump’s national security team and his first Secretary of State. But it’s not likely to go as smoothly for Trump’s new nominees to run State and the CIA.
Senate Democrats — and some top Republicans — are slow-walking the process amid fresh questions over the Trump Administration’s stance toward Russia and revived inquiries into the CIA’s dark history of torture.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions,” said Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer.
Republican Senator Rand Paul announced yesterday that he would oppose both nominees — Mike Pompeo for State and Gina Haspel for CIA — over their views on waterboarding, which he said “sends a terrible message to the world”. He also has concerns that Pompeo will advocate for regime change in Iran that could lead to military action.
“I want to do everything I can to block them,” Paul said. “This is a debate that’s really worth having.”
The President’s firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson touched off a Senate confirmation battle that will play out this year ahead of midterm elections in November when control of Congress hangs in balance.
By tapping Pompeo to replace Tillerson, the White House is counting on a repeat of Senate support for the former Kansas congressman confirmed last year to lead the clandestine agency.
But the political ground has shifted since the 66-32 vote to confirm Pompeo in January last year when the GOP-led Congress was eager to put the new president’s team in place and Democrats were unwilling to stand in the way. In the year since, Pompeo has drawn scrutiny for actions and statements showcasing his loyalty to Trump and his approach toward Russia.
At the same time, Republican Senator John McCain made it clear he had plenty of questions for Trump’s choice of Haspel to head the CIA over the “nature and extent” of her involvement in the agency’s waterboarding of terror suspects.
As a career intelligence officer, Haspel oversaw a secret CIA prison in Thailand from 2003 to 2005 where top terror suspects were waterboarded, and she later helped carry out an order to destroy waterboarding videos. Although she now serves as CIA deputy director, Haspel has not previously had to undergo Senate confirmation.