Senate approves Mike Pompeo to lead Trump's State Department

Oren Dorell | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Pompeo sails through Senate confirmation vote for Secretary of State The Senate has narrowly confirmed Mike Pompeo to be secretary of state

WASHINGTON – The Senate confirmed CIA Director Mike Pompeo on Thursday as President Trump's next secretary of State.

After the 57-42 vote, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Pompeo will play an important role in negotiations between the United States and North Korea.

"In fact, he’s already played a role as director of the CIA," Cornyn said, referring to a trip Pompeo made to North Korea to meet with leader Kim Jong Un in late March.

It was one of the slimmest margins for the job in recent history. Pompeo is expected to be sworn into office immediately and then depart within hours of the vote for Europe on his first trip as secretary of state. The CIA’s deputy director Gina Haspel assumed the role of acting director of the agency.

Trump applauded the Senate’s confirmation of Pompeo, saying, “Having a patriot of Mike’s immense talent, energy, and intellect leading the Department of State will be an incredible asset for our country at this critical time in history.”

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said he worries that Pompeo "will hamper American diplomacy" and that he espouses views on reproductive and LGBTQ rights that demonstrate values outside the U.S. mainstream.

Though Blumenthal praised the opening Pompeo made with North Korea as director of the CIA, "the success of those negotiations will depend on diplomacy, not spies, and he has no experience in diplomacy."

He urged Pompeo to rely on State Department diplomats "with the experience and expertise to be successful around the world."

Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., cited statements by Pompeo calling for military strikes on Iran as a solution to its disputed nuclear program, calling out American Muslim leaders as tacit supporters of terrorism and calling for U.S. withdrawal from international agreements on Iran's nuclear deal and climate change.

"It’s incumbent on our next secretary of State to work with our allies in Europe, with all of our allies," Cardin said. Pompeo "suggests we should pull out of the agreement if we can’t change it, even though Iran is in compliance with that agreement. That’s not diplomacy."

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Monday along party lines to recommend Pompeo for secretary of State. All the Democrats on the committee opposed Pompeo's nomination, primarily because of his hawkish views.

Pompeo, a West Point graduate and former Army captain, was elected three times to the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas. He's led the CIA since Trump came to office in January 2017.

During his confirmation hearing, Pompeo said he would rebuild the ranks of the State Department, which has seen departures among senior staff, including the ouster of Pompeo's predecessor, Rex Tillerson. Trump fired Tillerson in March after months of disagreements.

Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., urged his colleagues to vote in favor of Pompeo, who he said is “uniquely qualified.”

“We need Mike Pompeo, and we need him now,” Roberts said. “He will be forthright, he will be independent, and yes, he will be diplomatic.”

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that there will be a NATO ministerial meeting Friday in Brussels. “Us passing him out today will allow Pompeo to participate in this important mission,” Corker said.

“I didn’t know him well before this nomination," he said. “Through the process of going through the confirmation hearing, I think he’s going to be exemplary.”

The United States is maneuvering through multiple precarious situations around the world.

President Trump is preparing to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in late May or early June to try to end the North's nuclear weapons program. Trump is considering whether to abandon the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement. And the White House announced it will begin moving the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on May 14.

The Trump administration continues to bump heads with Russia over its alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election and Moscow's support for Syrian President Bashar Assad, who the United States says used chemical weapons on his own people.

"Whenever there is a void, the world pays a price," Roberts said. "That's why we need Mike, and that's why we need him now."