White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Monday accused Democrats of putting U.S. national security at risk by opposing Mike Pompeo’s nomination to be the next secretary of state.
“They have to decide that they want to put the safety and the security and the diplomacy of our country ahead of their own political games, and we’re very hopeful that they will,” she said of Senate Democrats who will almost unanimously oppose Pompeo.
She noted that past secretaries of state have been approved unanimously with support from both sides.
“Republicans have come on board and supported Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, people we know who they didn’t necessarily agree with on the political spectrum, but they knew how important this position was, and they didn’t play games with it, and Democrats need to do the same thing with Mike Pompeo,” she said.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday will vote on Pompeo’s nomination, and he is expected to fail in a 10-11 vote there, as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., will join Democrats to oppose him.
Democrats have been much less willing to support Trump’s secretary of state nominees. Rex Tillerson was approved by the committee in a 11-10 vote after all Democrats opposed him.
But as Sanders noted, John Kerry was approved in a unanimous voice vote in the committee in 2013, and Hillary Clinton was approved in a 16-1 vote. Condoleezza Rice, President George W. Bush’s nominee, was approved 16-2.
