WASHINGTON — The confirmation hearing for Donald Trump’s CIA nominee got off to eerie start Thursday when the lights suddenly went out just as a senator was mentioning Russian interference in the presidential election.

About 10 minutes into the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing for GOP Rep. Mike Pompeo the room went dark during Sen. Mark Warner’s opening statement.

“Chairman [Richard] Burr and I have committed to conduct a review of the intelligence supporting the Intelligence Community’s assessment that Russia, at the direction of President Vladimir Putin–” Warner (D-Va.) said around 10:14 am when the blackout hit.

The outage immediately sparked conspiracy theories—even among senators –that Russia was continuing its meddling.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tweeted: “Lights suspiciously went off in hearing room for new CIA director, Mike Pompe[o]. Hmmm… ”

The Senate superintendent, however, attributed the outage throughout the Hart Senate Office Building to an electrical company conducting work in the neighborhood.

The hearing moved to the adjacent Dirksen Senate Office Building and resumed in about a half hour.

Fellow Kansan Bob Dole, 93, introduced Pompeo in the new lit hearing room and quipped: “My eyesight is not too good, so I thought it was perfect in the other room.”

Pompeo, a graduate of West Point and Harvard Law School, was elected to the House in 2010 with a wave of Tea Party support. He served on the House Intelligence Committee, Energy and Commerce Committee and Benghazi Committee, where he issued a sharp rebuke of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

During the hearing, Pompeo sought to assure jittery lawmakers he will be a steadying force on President-elect Donald Trump, who has been leery of the intelligence community and who once advocated to bring back waterboarding.

Asked whether he would obey a Trump order to resume the use of torture in interrogations, Pompeo declared “absolutely not.”

Pompeo addressed the same issue in written responses to questions from senators, as well.

“I have no reason to believe that President Trump will direct me not to follow the law and I will follow the law. I have no expectation of receiving any directions that do not comply with law,” he wrote in pre-hearing responses.

Differing from Trump’s hostility to the intelligence community, Pompeo said he believes the intelligence community’s assessment that Russian conducted hacks to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election and that Russia had a preference for Trump to win the election.

“I’ve seen nothing to cast any doubt on the findings in the report,” Pompeo said.

He continued to breeze through questioning from senators and received compliments from both Democrats and Republicans about his service and qualifications.