Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced Tuesday he will oppose CIA Director Mike Pompeo’s nomination to become secretary of state.
“I’m going to oppose the nomination of [Director] Pompeo. I haven’t said anything until today,” Schumer told reporters during his weekly press conference Tuesday. He noted he met with the nation’s spy chief twice before making his decision.
The New York Democrat said he was “disappointed” with Pompeo’s hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, after which the two had a second meeting.
Schumer said he asked Pompeo whether he would speak out “forcefully” in defense of Robert Mueller, the special counsel heading the Russia investigation, and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
“He demurred,” said Schumer, who also voted against Pompeo to head the CIA.
He said Pompeo “demurred” again when he was asked to walk back comments he made in recent years about Muslim-Americans and people from South Asia.
“I am voting ‘no’ for those reasons, and I think people have good reasons to vote ‘no’ for [Director] Pompeo both on the foreign policy sphere and in these areas,” Schumer added.
Pompeo’s nomination is likely to pass with at least 53 votes in the full Senate later this week after clearing the Foreign Relations Committee hurdle on Monday.
