POMPEO ENDORSED FOR CABINET POST
Sen. Udall votes ‘no;’ Heinrich says he will oppose Trump pick
After a last-minute change of heart by Sen. Rand Paul, Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommends nominee for secretary of state.
WASHINGTON — Mike Pompeo, President Donald Trump’s choice for secretary of state, avoided a rare rebuke Monday as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee narrowly recommended him, but the vote served as a warning shot to the White House as nominees to lead the CIA and Veterans Affairs are hitting stiff resistance.
Pompeo, who’s now CIA director, received the panel’s approval only after Trump’s last-minute overtures to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. Pompeo’s nomination now goes to the full Senate, where votes are tallying in his favor and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he looks forward to voting to confirm him later this week.
Republicans hold just a slim Senate majority, 50-49, with the prolonged absence of Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Pompeo’s bid to become the nation’s top diplomat received a boost Monday when two Democrats, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, announced their support.
Pressure is mounting on senators from all sides. White House allies are unloading ad campaigns against Democrats from states Trump won, but progressive groups are pounding senators’ offices in opposition. As soon as Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., announced her support for Pompeo, one group called on her to switch.
Sen. Tom Udall, a New Mexico Democrat who sits on the committee, voted against Pompeo on Monday. Udall signaled his vote earlier this month when he said the former CIA director would not “have the independence to fix the damage done by the president’s insults and xenophobic bluster against the Mexican and Central American people” and that Pompeo has “no specific plan to rebuild the morale or strengthen the workforce at a State Department that has been hollowed out by this administration.”
“Pompeo has shown that he’ll double down on President Trump’s worst instincts and policies,” Udall said in a statement to the Journal after Monday’s vote. “He isn’t the right person to be America’s top diplomat.”
Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., will also oppose Pompeo when his nomination comes to the full Senate, his spokeswoman said Monday. Heinrich and Udall both voted against Pompeo’s nomination for CIA director.
Ahead of the Foreign Relations Committee’s vote, chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said of the full Senate, “It does appear Mike Pompeo has the votes to be secretary of state.”
Supporters point to Pompeo’s resume as a West Point and Harvard Law School graduate who has the president’s confidence. Opponents are focusing on his hawkish foreign policy views and negative comments about gay marriage and Muslims.