CIA Director Mike Pompeo argued Thursday that if members of former President Bill Clinton’s Cabinet could stay in their jobs during Clinton’s impeachment, then he should have no problem continuing to work for President Trump even if Trump fires people investigating his supposed ties to Russia, a move many Democrats say would be an impeachable offense.
The issue came up when Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., asked if Pompeo would resign if Trump ended up firing Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein or special counsel Robert Mueller. Pompeo, who has been nominated to be Trump’s new secretary of state, rejected the proposal.
“We all lived this,” he said. “There was a time when we had a president impeached, right? We had a United States president impeached. Enormous domestic turmoil, and it’s my recollection that most of the Cabinet members chose to continue to do their best, to defend American democracy, and to do their roles around the world.”
Udall replied by saying he must have been talking about President Richard Nixon, although Nixon was never impeached and resigned before the House had a chance to impeach him.
“Well, I think if you remember, you’re speaking of the impeachment of Nixon, many officials that were in the line decided as a moral matter to step aside,” he said. “They weren’t going to have anything to do with it.”
But Pompeo quickly corrected him.
“I was actually thinking of a more recent impeachment of the president, when President Clinton was impeached. That’s what I actually had in my head when you actually asked the question,” Pompeo said.
“I think his Cabinet members decided that it was incumbent upon them at this time of domestic political turmoil to continue to perform their functions ably on behalf of the United States of America,” he added.
It was the second time Pompeo was asked if he would leave office if Trump fires Mueller. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., also proposed that he leave in that case, which Pompeo also rejected.
Several other Democrats also used the hearing not to press Pompeo on foreign affairs, but to ask about Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
