Kaine voted for Pompeo as director of the CIA. He says he’ll oppose him at State.
Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) voted to confirm Mike Pompeo as CIA director, but he will oppose him as Secretary of State, citing his “anti-diplomacy disposition.”
Kaine, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that held a confirmation hearing for Pompeo this week, in a statement on Sunday he is a no on Pompeo as America’s top diplomat. “I have decided to oppose the nomination of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. I honor his public service and voted for him to be CIA Director. But in scrutinizing his nomination to be America’s principal diplomat, I cannot overlook grave doubts about his anti-diplomacy disposition,” he said.
He cited Pompeo’s hawkishness on Iran and North Korea and his support of President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb Syria while insisting former US President Barack Obama not take military action there and painted him as a political figure beholden to an overly-aggressive Trump. “Now more than ever, we need a Secretary of State who will stand strong for vigorous U.S. diplomacy. I believe that Mike Pompeo would exacerbate President Trump’s weaknesses rather than uphold our diplomatic legacy. For this reason, I will vote against his nomination.”
Now more than ever, we need a Secretary of State who will stand strong for vigorous diplomacy, not exacerbate President Trump’s proclivity towards conflict. Unfortunately, Mike Pompeo has often demonstrated a similar disposition against diplomacy, so I will oppose his nomination.
— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) April 15, 2018
Kaine had previously telegraphed his doubts about voting for Pompeo for Secretary of State. “I’m still weighing it, but I’ll tell you, I walked in with serious questions and they weren’t really laid to rest yesterday by his testimony,” Kaine said on CNN. Kaine was one of two Foreign Relations Committee Democrats to vote in favor of Pompeo at the CIA.
Pompeo needs the support of committee Democrats if he hopes to win confirmation Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has said he won’t vote for Pompeo, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ) is at home receiving treatment for cancer. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the other committee Democrat who voted in favor of Pompeo at the CIA, has expressed doubts about him as Secretary of State as well. And, of course, Republicans have only a slim 51-49 majority in the Senate right now.
Trump in March nominated to replace Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State after he fired the former Exxon CEO. John Sullivan, former Deputy Secretary of State, is currently acting Secretary of State.
Not having someone permanently in charge of the State Department, especially given tenuous situations in Iran, North Korea, and Syria, is obviously problematic. The department was eroded under Tillerson, who left the office without any major accomplishments and pushed to slash “inefficiencies” at the department, resulting in the resignations of 60 percent of its top-ranking career diplomats.
And Trump has numerous other appointed positions throughout the government that he has not yet filled. He often blames that on Democrats, but in many cases, he hasn’t nominated anyone. And he keeps firing people and wanting new replacements.
Mike Pompeo is pretty intense
Pompeo is a former three-term Republican Congress member. He’s known for his hawkish stance on Iran and his grilling of Hillary Clinton over Benghazi. Trump has grown to like him as director of the CIA, and they’ve developed a close relationship as he delivers daily intelligence briefings.
Vox’s Alex Ward, who has a complete explainer on Pompeo and his background, laid out some of the controversy surrounding him and what his appointment might mean:
There’s reason to worry about Pompeo’s credibility and honesty. He repeatedly misrepresented the Russia assessment, stating that the intelligence community concluded Moscow had no effect on the vote’s final result when in reality it made no judgments on that.
If confirmed, Pompeo will bring his more hawkish worldview to the State Department. He’s supported keeping the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, open, defended the CIA’s use of torture in the past, and sees Iran and “radical Islamic terrorism” as top national security threats — all positions closely aligned with those of Trump.
That suggests Pompeo will hew closer to Trump’s worldview than Tillerson has, which has far-reaching implications for US foreign policy.
During Thursday’s Senate hearing, Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) grilled Pompeo about his past associations with prominent anti-Muslim ideologues. Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) pointed out Pompeo’s multiple conflicting statements, noting that much of what he said at the hearing does not line up with positions he’s taken in the past on issues such as the use of military force, Islam, and LGBTQ rights. “As we close here, I am trying to think about which Mike Pompeo I will be asked to vote on,” he said.
The path ahead for Pompeo’s confirmation is anything but clear.