Democrats expressed doubts Thursday about President Donald Trump’s secretary of state pick Mike Pompeo, questioning whether he would challenge the president and describing his testimony as evasive. The skepticism, which ranged from the panel’s top Democrat to its most junior member, could signal a tough vote ahead for the current CIA director.
“I don’t think many of them are very happy with the answers that they got,” leading Democrat on the panel Bob Menendez said of his Democratic colleagues, adding later, “They are looking for a secretary of state who will not give in to the president’s worst instincts and impulses.”
In addition to wanting to hear that Pompeo would stand up to the president internally, Menendez said that he did not hear substantive answers from Pompeo on Russia, Iran, and Syria strategy. “Either it is a lack of knowledge or you’re just not being forthcoming,” he told reporters after Pompeo’s confirmation hearing Thursday.
“The evasiveness of a lot of those answers is going to raise some real questions for Democrats,” said Connecticut senator Chris Murphy. “I don’t know why Director Pompeo can’t come out and say that he disagrees with the president when he claims that the Mueller investigation is an affront to democracy.”
With Republican senator Rand Paul already having declared his opposition and the GOP holding a one-seat majority on the panel, Pompeo will have to win at least one Democratic lawmaker to get a favorable vote on the committee-level. If he does not, Republican leaders could still take Pompeo’s nomination to the floor without the panel’s recommendation, a rare move that could be embarrassing for the nominee.
“If that were to happen, it would be the first time that any secretary of state nominee would not have received a favorable vote of the committee,” said Menendez.
Two Democrats on the foreign relations panel voted to confirm Pompeo as CIA director last January: New Hampshire Jeanne Shaheen and Virginia senator Tim Kaine. Both raised issues with the his testimony Thursday.
“The issue has not been so much his answers as the substance of his answers,” Shaheen told THE WEEKLY STANDARD. “We just disagree on a number of areas.” She would not comment on how she was planning to vote.
Kaine said he had “serious doubts” about whether Pompeo is “the diplomat that we need right now.” “It might be a tough vote,” he said.
Pompeo, for his part, told lawmakers that when his team at CIA needed more resources, he demanded and defended them to the president. “I was able to persuade him,” he said. “With your help, I’ll do the same thing at the Department of State.”
He drew a sharp contrast between himself and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (without naming names), who oversaw a drop in State Department morale during his tenure. Pompeo said his first priority would be empowering the diplomatic corps and filling the “demoralizing” vacancies.
Tillerson’s State Department experienced a significant number of top-level vacancies and numerous empty ambassadorial posts. He had sought a State Department “redesign,” and spent $12 million on private consultants for the effort, Politico reported. Lawmakers strongly rejected a Tillerson-backed budget proposal that cut State Department funding and criticized a self-imposed hiring freeze, which was lifted after one year.
Committee chairman Bob Corker said Thursday that Pompeo’s relationship with Trump could serve him well. But, he added, considering the number of administration officials who have been fired or or have resigned, “It’s fair for our members to ask whether your relationship is rooted in a candid, healthy, give-and-take dynamic, or whether it’s based on a deferential willingness to go along to get along.”
Tillerson clashed with the president at times, disagreeing with him on subjects like North Korea and Iran. NBC News reported in October that he had called Trump a “moron,” a charge Tillerson would not deny. Pompeo said Thursday that he built a relationship with Trump through “hundreds of hours” of daily, often in-person intelligence briefings.
“I have no discomfort with directness or confrontation; I prefer face-to-face conversations over email,” read Pompeo’s written testimony.
Corker gave Pompeo glowing reviews after Thursday’s hearing, telling reporters that the director “handled himself exceptionally well.” “I don’t think he dodged questions in any way,” he said. “He was fullsome when he needed to be and succinct when he needed to be.”
The same did not go for the panel’s top Democrat. Menendez said that he did not think Pompeo would be willing to stand up to Trump judging by his testimony. He appeared most frustrated by Pompeo’s answer to his first question about a March 2017 meeting during which Trump reportedly asked about getting then-FBI director Jim Comey to “back off” investigating former national security adviser Michael Flynn.
“First it’s, ‘I’m not going to answer that,’ which means you know what meeting I’m talking about,” Menendez said of Pompeo’s answers to him on the matter. “Then when pressed even more, well, ‘I don’t recall what was said,’ and then gratuitously offers a wholesale exoneration of the president, by saying he never asked me to do anything wrong. That dog won’t hunt.”
Pompeo repeatedly said he would not discuss the Russia investigations, citing his own participation in them. The CIA director confirmed that he has spoken to Mueller and said that his agency has provided both congressional panels with classified information.
“These are complex legal issues the special counsel is involved in. I’ve done my best as CIA director to separate each and every element of it,” he told Murphy. “It is a minefield, Senator Murphy, and I want to be on the far side of the line with making sure that I don’t create challenges for the special counsel’s office, for the two legislative committees that are engaged in this.”
In another instance, Pompeo said that he would not resign if the president fired Mueller. “My instincts tell me my obligation to continue to serve as America’s senior diplomat will be more important in increased times of domestic political turmoil,” he said.
Pompeo took a tough line on Russia policy more broadly, as he has done since his time as a Kansas congressman. “I take a back seat to no one with my views of the threat that is presented to America from Russia,” he said. For one, he told lawmakers that there is more to do in terms of Russia sanctions, including on the implementation of a law signed reluctantly by the president last August known as CAATSA.
“There is still more work to be done on CAATSA,” he said. “Vladimir Putin has not yet received the message sufficiently and we need to continue to work at that.”
When Shaheen asked about Trump’s tweet Thursday morning that “much of the bad blood with Russia is caused by the Fake & Corrupt Russia Investigation,” Pompeo split with the president.
“The historic conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, and now Russia, is caused by Russian bad behavior,” he said.
Democrats said they were dissatisfied with aspects of Pompeo’s policy-based testimony. Maryland senator Ben Cardin, who voted against the nuclear deal, expressed dissatisfaction with Pompeo’s answers on Iran.
“I was disappointed,” he said. “I would think that the person who wants to be the chief diplomat would understand the importance of sitting at the table with the international community on climate, or working with our European allies in regards to Iran.”
President Donald Trump waived some nuclear-related sanctions on Iran in January but said he would not do so again at an upcoming May deadline if the Europeans do not agree to fix the deal’s flaws. Pompeo told Cardin he wants to fix the nuclear deal, and that “if there’s no chance that we can fix it” he would recommend working for a better deal. “Even after May 12, there’s still much diplomatic work to be done,” he said.
Murphy said he had concerns that Pompeo’s counsel would insert the U.S. into overseas military conflict without congressional input. But, he added: “I do think Mike Pompeo believes in the power of the State Department in the way that Rex Tillerson didn’t. That is good to hear, both publicly and privately.”
Delaware senator Chris Coons said that he wasn’t satisfied with Pompeo’s answers to his questions. But he gave him credit for answering “in a concise and direct way.”
“I did respect that he brings to this role and this hearing clearly a sharp intellect, a lot of relevant experience,” Coons said. “I was left unsatisfied with a number of core areas that are not about respect for the Department and budget issues–but it’s more about American values and the priority he would place on some of the values that I hold dear.”
