Mueller probe haunts Pompeo’s bid to lead Trump’s State Department

The new stance from Democrats was made clear at Thursday’s hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he faced immediate questions about what he knows about the Mueller probe.

“I think it’s most appropriate that while these investigations continue, I not speak to the conversations I’ve had with the various investigative bodies,” Pompeo, who currently serves as CIA director, told senators early on in the hearing.

“It is a minefield,” Pompeo said later. “I want to be on the far side of the line with making sure that I don’t create challenges for the special counsel’s office, for the two legislative committees that are engaged in this.”

Pompeo did confirm he met with Mueller, but that was all Democrats could get out of him, and Republicans made a point of highlighting his qualifications to lead the State Department.

“If there’s ever one where you put politics aside, here it is,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., who introduced Pompeo at the hearing, said at the outset. “Mike Pompeo represents everything that we pray in a nominee that they would have and that as we go forward we’ve got an opportunity to say to those young people around the country that one day want to give back to this country that, ‘yeah, your background does matter. We want the best.’”

While the Mueller probe might seem far afield from some of the policy questions that confront the nation’s top diplomat, Democrats used the topic as a proxy for gauging Pompeo’s broader willingness to oppose Trump, whom they characterized as an impulsive and belligerent president liable to order American forces into major conflicts in Syria or North Korea. At several points, Pompeo took up a defense of Trump, armed with his perspective as someone who has served as his CIA director for more than a year.

“I’ve been part of this Cabinet,” Pompeo told Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore. “I’ve watched it thoughtfully deliberate about all of these things and I can tell you that every day at the forefront of our mind is how can we find solutions that achieve the American objective but avoid us having to put a single American in harm’s way. You have my commitment that as the Secretary of State or if I continue as the CIA director that I will continue to hold that in the forefront of my mind.”

Still, Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., took him to task for declining to condemn Trump’s denunciations of Mueller, following reports that the FBI had raided the offices of one of Trump’s attorneys.

“By refusing to condemn attacks on the special counsel — really, over-the-line attacks that aren’t shared by Republicans here in Congress — you are frustrating the work of the special counsel because you’re associating yourself with some very poisonous political attacks,” Murphy said.

Pompeo rejected that charge, and reiterated that he has “worked diligently” to cooperate with Mueller’s investigation and instructed his aides to “go out of our way” to assist investigators. Still, he distanced himself subtly from Trump’s complain about the raid when Merkley asked him about whether lawful warrants should be honored.

“I believe deeply in the rule of law and will continue to do so,” Pompeo replied. “Oh. yes sir, absolutely.”

That pattern of complaints about what Pompeo would say continued into policy discussions, even when there might be an unusual amount of agreement on the underlying policy. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., shares Pompeo’s sharp opposition to the Iran nuclear agreement when then-President Barack Obama’s team was negotiating the pact.

But on Thursday, Pompeo’s refusal to say how he will advise Trump at an upcoming deadline to maintain or scrap the deal provoked Menendez’s most explicit indication that he might vote against Pompeo.

“You want me to put my faith in you, but I can’t do that blindly,” Menendez, the top Democrat on the Foreign Relations panel, said. “I need to have some sense of what you’ll be advocating, even if it’s not what the president decides.”

Pompeo said his counsel will depend on the status of negotiations with European allies, whom the Trump administration wants to agree to a series of western-enforced improvements to the deal.

“It depends, clearly, if we’re close,” he said. “If there’s no chance that we can fix it, I will recommend to the president that we do our level best to work with our allies to achieve a better outcome and a better deal.”

Under Senate precedent, Pompeo can be confirmed by a simple majority of the Senate, and Vice President Mike Pence is available to cast a tie-breaking vote if necessary. As the questions proceeded to policy issues, there were few if any indications that Pompeo would find a friend on the Democratic side of the committee.

But Pompeo might still need Democratic support. Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., is absent from the Capitol battling cancer. And Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has pledged to vote against him.

Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican member of the Foreign Relations panel, pressed Pompeo on a number of issues. He urged him to dub the 2003 invasion of Iraq “a mistake” — Pompeo attributed the invasion to “bad intelligence” — and argued that Pompeo would has an unconstitutional view of the president’s authority to order military action without congressional approval. Paul also faulted Pompeo for believing that the United States should remain in Afghanistan to prevent the emergence of a terrorist threat from the country.

“Some here are worried that you’re going to be too much in agreement with the president, I actually worry that you’re going to be too much in disagreement with the president,” Paul told Pompeo. “One of the things I’ve liked about the president is he says it is time to come home, let’s declare victory and come home, but it sounds to me like you’re saying we need to stay.”

“It sounds like I have a Goldilocks problem,” Pompeo replied. “I want to get out in the same way you do … we’re not at a place yet where it’s appropriate to do it.”

Pompeo has been courting Democratic votes, within the Foreign Relations Committee and without, that might offset the loss of Paul or McCain. There were indications that effort might bear fruit on Thursday, as Maine Sen. Angus King — an independent who caucuses with Democrats and has met with Pompeo — attended the hearing even though he is not a member of the committee.

The topic of the Russia investigation produced a glimmer of a suggestion that Pompeo might find a friendly ear on the Democratic side of the Foreign Relations Committee. In his prepared remarks, Pompeo said the time for going soft on Russia is “over.”

But still, Democrats kept up pressure on the Mueller probe. Sens. Chris Coons, D-Del., and Mark Udall, D-N.M., went so far as to ask if Pompeo would resign in the event that Trump were to fire Mueller. Pompeo said he would not, although he hadn’t considered the matter prior to the hearing.

“My obligation to continue to serve as America’s senior diplomat will be more important in increased times of political domestic turmoil,” he told Coons.

Coons accepted the answer collegially. “Whether the right course is to resign or to engage and to speak out against it and to counsel against it and to then work to restore the rule of law, we can debate. But I think it’s vital that we have as our chief diplomat somebody who understands our values, as I believe you do,” Coons said. “And who is willing to fight for them even by taking dramatic steps like a resignation in order to signal vigorous disapproval of what the president has done or might do.”