Senate panel narrowly endorses Mike Pompeo for secretary of state after Trump intervenes with key Republican - washingtonpost

Secretary of state nominee Mike Pompeo narrowly eked out an endorsement from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday after President Trump and a Democratic senator intervened at the last minute, all but guaranteeing that he will be confirmed by the full Senate later this week.

Pompeo had seemed unlikely to secure a majority of the panel’s support. But Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who had pledged to oppose him, tweeted moments before the vote that Trump had talked with him and changed his mind.

Paul’s key concern had been that Pompeo, currently director of the CIA, would not support Trump’s campaign pledge to pull troops out of Afghanistan. The senator also had called on Pompeo “to support President Trump’s belief that the Iraq war was a mistake.”

“Having received assurances from President Trump and Director Pompeo that he agrees with the President on these important issues, I have decided to support his nomination to be our next secretary of state,” Paul said.

The panel’s vote was largely symbolic, since Pompeo had secured enough votes to be confirmed by the full Senate earlier in the day, when two Democrats facing difficult reelection challenges in 2018 — Sens. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) and Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) — announced that they would back his nomination on the floor.

But Trump’s supporters were determined to have Pompeo enter office without the mark of being the first secretary of state in almost a century to fail a committee vote.

The committee ultimately voted 11 to 10 along party lines to endorse Pompeo. But because of a quirk in the Senate rules, the panel could not send its recommendation to the full Senate, as one of those 11 Republicans — Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) — was not present for the vote. He was out of town delivering a eulogy at his best friend’s funeral, senators said.

A negative vote on Pompeo’s nomination would not necessarily have precluded the full Senate from taking it up. But for GOP leaders, time was of the essence: They want Pompeo to be confirmed in time to attend a meeting of NATO foreign ministers Friday. - Read More

Senate panel narrowly endorses Mike Pompeo for secretary of state after Trump intervenes with key Republican