Senate

Key Dem to oppose Pompeo nomination

by Jordain Carney - 04/18/18 10:07 AM ET

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said on Wednesday that he will oppose CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s nomination to lead the State Department.

“I will be casting a ‘no’ vote for Director Pompeo to be our secretary of State,” Menendez said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event.

He added that “I believe our nation’s top diplomat must be forthright, and, more critically, his past sentiments do not reflect our nation’s values, and are not acceptable for our nation’s top diplomat. The American people deserve better.”

Following Menendez’s statement, Sen. Ben Cardin (Md.), another Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, came out in opposition to Pompeo.

“After personally meeting with him and reviewing his testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, I do not believe Mr. Pompeo will be an independent voice in advising the president, nor an advocate for leading our allies and friends around the world in support of the international norms and values that protect America and enhance our prosperity and security,” Cardin said in a statement.

{mosads}The two Democrats’ opposition comes as Pompeo appears short of the support needed to win a majority of the Foreign Relations Committee in a vote expected to take place next week.

Only one Democrat on the committee, Sen. Christopher Coons (Del.), has yet to say how he’ll vote. He, like Cardin, opposed Pompeo to be CIA director.

Mendendez added on Wednesday that Pompeo’s record is “deeply troubling” and Pompeo offered “a series of goals but no strategy” during his nomination hearing before the Foreign Relations Committee.

“After committing to transparency in his opening statement, he was not forthcoming when I questioned him about his involvement in the Russia investigation and I can tell you even [in] his private conversations with me he didn’t tell me about his visit to North Korea,” he said.

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Pompeo flew to North Korea earlier this year and met with the nation’s leader, Kim Jong Un.

Senate Republicans have, so far, largely brushed aside the revelation, and signaled they plan to move Pompeo’s nomination to the floor even if he falls short in committee.

–Updated at 11:03 a.m.

Tags Ben Cardin Bob Menendez Christopher Coons Mike Pompeo secretary of State trump nominees