Rand Paul switches now says he'll back Pompeo nomination
WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul wanted assurances that Mike Pompeo would not advocate more war and that the White House would at least discuss curbs on government surveillance.
Once he heard what he needed to hear, the Kentucky Republican senator dropped his opposition to Pompeo’s nomination as secretary of state, delivering President Donald Trump a huge win Monday.
The reversal, though, did raise new questions about how far Paul was willing to go with his defiance. While he got assurances he’d get an airing, he got no concrete change in policy Monday.
He dismissed suggestions that he is developing a reputation of protesting but then falling in line.
“I am a loud voice that war has been a mistake and will continue to be, that regime change has been a mistake,” he said. “I can promise you that they did listen to me and that my point of view on all the wars has not changed an iota and I think my voice is a louder voice by participating.”
Paul’s sudden support for Pompeo, announced just as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was convening to vote on the nomination, instantly provided the controversial choice the momentum that the White House had so eagerly, even desperately, sought.
Trump had lobbied Paul hard. The senator said he talked with both the president and Pompeo several times Monday before the committee vote, which wound up sending the nomination to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. Confirmation, which now appears all but assured, is likely later this week.
Paul said Trump promised him a discussion on curbing government surveillance and databases.
“I haven’ t been given anything or promised anything, I don’t get a bridge built somewhere, but I have asked that we consider the liberty of the individual and the Constitution,” Paul said.
He has long been a critic of government surveillance pro grams, warning that they are a breach of privacy. In December, he temporarily stalled confirmation of one of Trump’s Justice Department nominees over concerns about warrantless wiretaps and surveillance.
Earlier this year Paul threatened to filibuster a measure to extend and expand massive U.S. surveillance powers.
Pompeo, now the CIA director, in 2016 endorsed a plan to have surveillance agencies collect “all metadata” and combine it with “publicly available fifinancial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database.”
Paul said he was“absolutely, unquestionably, unequivocally opposed to more databases” particularly one that involves information about lifestyles .“That’s just a recipe for ‘1984’ on steroids ,” he said. But he said he’d talked to both Pompeo and Trump and they assured him there would be a discussion.
Paul also said he got guarantees that Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman who the senator criticized for hawkish views, won’t drag the president into more wars. The senator said that he got assurances that Pompeo agreed with Trump that the Iraq War “was a mistake” and that the United States “must end” its involvement in Afghanistan.
Paul’s new position provided Pompeowi than important boost. For days, it was anticipated that the committee would send the nomination to the full Senate with an unfavorable recommendation, since Paul was expected to join all 10 Democrats in voting no. The other 10 Republicans would vote yes.
There are no records of a secretary of state nominee being sent to the Senate floor unfavorably since 1925. But thanks to the Paul switch, the committee approved the nomination on a party- line vote.
Paul didn’t entirely shed his maverick ways Monday. He said last week it would take a “great deal” for him to vote for Pompeo, and suggested he’s not completely convinced by Pompeo.