GOP RALLIES BEHIND POMPEO
Party pushes to confirm nominee for sec of state
WASHINGTON — In a sign of deep worry about secretary of state nominee Mike Pompeo’s confirmation prospects, President Trump and other Republicans launched a concerted messaging blitz against Senate Democrats and GOP Sen. Rand Paul — saying any move to block Pompeo would have grave national security and election consequences.
The push came on the heels of the White House confirming news that Pompeo, the CIA director the president tapped to replace Rex Tillerson atop the State Department, secretly met with Kim Jong Un in North Korea over Easter weekend ahead of a proposed summit between Kim and Trump in May or June.
“He had a great meeting with Kim Jong Un — got along with him really well,” Trump told reporters at his Mar-A-Lago estate yesterday. Asked about Paul’s opposition to Pompeo, Trump said: “I will say this about Rand Paul: He’s never let me down.”
Moments later Paul told reporters in Washington that Trump called him and asked him to meet with Pompeo, a prospect Paul said he’s “open to,” despite his vocal criticisms of Pompeo’s support for the Iraq War.
But other Republicans were less conciliatory, warning in a series of public messages that opposition to Pompeo would jeopardize the potential success of a U.S.-North Korea summit, and put vulnerable senators in danger of losing their seats.
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), on a press call along with White House aide Kellyanne Conway, called Paul and Democratic committee members “two-bit Talleyrands,” a reference to 18thcentury French politician Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, who fellow politicians distrusted.
Bay State U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey, who is on the committee, shot back on Twitter with a reference to another French leader.
“I’m not a Talleyrand, but I am worried Mike Pompeo could start a war with a man with a Napoleon complex,” the Malden Democrat tweeted.
But Cotton and other Republicans said a vote against Pompeo will be used as campaign fodder against moderate Democrats in tight races, like Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana.
GOP National Committee Chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel sent out a similar message almost simultaneously to Cotton and Conway’s press call.
“The excuses for Democrats to oppose Mike Pompeo as secretary of state are getting weaker and weaker,” McDaniel said, a sign that Republicans are already planning to campaign on Pompeo’s vote. “Time to put the partisan games aside, and confirm Pompeo.”