Just as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened Monday, Mike Pompeo’s earliest opponent came out in favor of his nomination—flipping what could have been an unfavorable committee vote.
Kentucky senator Rand Paul said on Twitter that he had “received assurances” from President Donald Trump, and from Pompeo, that the CIA director agrees “that Iraq was a mistake, that regime change has destabilized the region, and that we must end our involvement with Afghanistan.” Paul met with Pompeo on Thursday and said he spoke with Trump “several times” Monday.
After a procedural dust-up, Pompeo received 11 Republican votes and nine Democratic votes, with one of the GOP votes occurring by proxy and one Democratic senator switching his vote to ‘present’ later on in the dramatic markup. Republicans hold an 11-10 majority on the panel.
Paul announced his opposition to Pompeo in March, just after the president fired former secretary of state Rex Tillerson and said Pompeo would be his replacement. At the time, Paul described Pompeo as an advocate for regime change and vowed to do everything possible to block him.
When the roll was called on Monday evening, the Kentucky senator paused a moment before uttering a begrudging “aye.” His marked the 11th Republican vote and secured Pompeo’s nomination.
“I do take him at his word that he does and has incorporated the idea that the Iraq war was mistake,” Paul said. “I think that is a step forward, particularly for our side, to have anybody say that.”
The libertarian-leaning senator also said Trump assured him that there would be a discussion on Fourth Amendment protections related to surveillance. “I have not been given anything or promised anything,” Paul said.
His announcement of support triggered furrowed brows and looks of disappointment from Democrats across the dais.
All 10 Democrats on the panel had been set to vote against Pompeo. If Paul had also opposed the nomination, the former Kansas congressman could have been the first high-level Cabinet nominee to be reported unfavorably in decades.
The Senate is expected to take up Pompeo’s nomination this week, though the vote could be narrow there, too. The GOP holds a slim 51-49 majority and Arizona senator John McCain is back home receiving medical treatment. At least three moderate Democrats have announced that they will support Pompeo: North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp, West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, and Indiana’s Joe Donnelly.
Pompeo’s nomination has proven polarizing, with Democrats on the panel coming out in opposition one by one after his confirmation hearing on April 12. Some raised concerns that the CIA director would not act as a check on the president’s “most belligerent and dangerous instincts.” They also said that he is not suited to be the nation’s top diplomat and cited his views on the Iran nuclear deal, among other issues.
“This is not about policy difference,” Virginia senator Tim Kaine said Monday. “I don’t want to vote for people who are anti-diplomatic to be the nation’s chief diplomat.”
Kaine voted for Pompeo as CIA director but declared his opposition last Sunday. His words garnered nods of praise from protesters in the audience.
Pompeo pushed back on the perception that he is a “hardliner” or “hawk” during his confirmation hearing. “There’s no one like someone who’s served in uniform who understands the value of diplomacy and the terror and tragedy that is war,” he said. Pompeo also said he had never advocated for regime change in North Korea and sees diplomacy as “the solution to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.”
Republican lawmakers have denounced Democrats’ opposition as fueled by partisanship. Of the 15 Democrats who voted for Pompeo as CIA director, roughly half have announced their intention to vote against him as secretary of state.
“There’s no reason why they shouldn’t vote for him again now,” Arkansas senator Tom Cotton said on a White House-led call last week. “The only reason they’re not is because of their blind partisanship and the fact that they are still not over the results of the 2016 election.”
The White House has also described the Democratic opposition to Pompeo as a break with the traditional deference given to presidents over their Cabinet nominees. In 2013, 42 Republicans voted to confirm John Kerry, resulting in a 94-3 vote.
But on Monday one Democrat cut through the heated party-line disagreements baked into the confirmation process. A procedural snafu arose when the committee tried to report the nomination to the Senate floor. Republican senator Johnny Isakson, who was away delivering a eulogy for a friend, voted by proxy. According to Senate rules, a member voting by proxy cannot be the deciding vote, so Pompeo’s nomination was momentarily stalled 10-10.
But then Delaware senator Chris Coons, a friend of Isakson’s with a reputation for bipartisanship, changed his vote to “present,” making the tally 11-9. Coons’s move allowed the panel to report Pompeo’s nomination—which had already been established to have the requisite votes—favorably.
