GOP senators criticize Trump picks
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s picks for secretary of state and CIA director are running into potential roadblocks among Republicans in the Senate, suggesting a difficult confirmation process at a time when the administration wants to quickly fill the positions.
Sen. Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican, said Wednesday he will oppose Trump’s decision to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with CIA Director Mike Pompeo and to nominate Deputy CIA Director Gina Haspel to lead the nation’s spy agency. Both in the past have supported waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” that Paul said are unacceptable forms of torture.
“I’m going to do everything I can to block them,” said Paul, who serves on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that plans to take up Pompeo’s nomination next month.
Another GOP senator who is a leading critic of waterboarding, John McCain of Arizona, said in a statement Tuesday that he would demand to hear more from Haspel on torture because her “career with the agency has intersected with the program of so-called ‘enhanced interrogation techniques’ on a number of occasions.”
The White House is pushing for rapid confirmation as Trump seeks to rebuild his foreign policy team after abruptly dismissing Tillerson on Tuesday. Because Republicans have only a one-vote majority in the Senate, losing GOP support could hurt Trump nominees if Democrats unite in opposition. While Republicans said they’re confident Pompeo and Haspel will be confirmed, Democrats were noncommittal.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called both of Trump’s picks “perfectly well qualified.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said he has no plans at the moment to urge Democrats to vote against the two, even as he added that Pompeo’s confirmation process will be a referendum on the administration’s policy toward Russia.
“I’d like to hear what Director Pompeo has to say,” Schumer said. “Will he be tougher on Russia? Will he encourage the president to be tougher on Russia?”
Trump’s decision to replace Tillerson comes as the State Department has been hobbled by top-level vacancies and the administration is preparing for high-stakes talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
For Senate Republicans, the potential for two controversial confirmations threatens to take away from time that could be used for policy work before the November election, which will determine control of both chambers.