Sen. Bob Corker believes CIA Director Mike Pompeo would easily be confirmed as secretary of state in any other atmosphere, but the current partisanship seizing Washington is making it more difficult.
Corker said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Pompeo is “highly qualified” for the role — as much as Hillary Clinton or John Kerry were under President Obama.
“This is a person that is highly qualified. He was first in his class at West Point, did the Harvard Law Review, was in charge of that. Knows more about what is happening in the world probably than anybody in America because of his post at CIA,” Corker said to guest host Dana Bash.
“Dana, under ordinary times he would be confirmed overwhelmingly. Secretary Clinton had one negative vote. John Kerry had no negative votes when he came through committee. He is more qualified probably than either of them but at least as qualified. We just live in a very partisan environment.”
Corker said the Democrats on the committee are united against Pompeo in an attempt to appeal to their base.
“The base, their base abhors this president so much and vice versa and it goes both ways, that we are in an era where somebody like this who is qualified unfortunately is likely to be voted out without recommendation or with a negative recommendation,” he said.
“That’s not ramming through. That’s happened before and to allow senators to vote on this nominee on the floor is the right thing to happen. It’s just sad that our nation has devolved politically to this point where someone of his caliber will not be confirmed.”
