Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Senate GOP sees early Supreme Court vote as political booster shot Poll: 51 percent of voters want to abolish the electoral college MORE said Wednesday she recently urged Mike Pompeo Michael (Mike) Richard PompeoOvernight Defense: Pentagon redirects pandemic funding to defense contractors | US planning for full Afghanistan withdrawal by May | Anti-Trump GOP group puts ads in military papers Overnight Defense: House Democrats unveil stopgap spending measure to GOP opposition | Bill includes .6B for new subs | Trump issues Iran sanctions after world shrugs at US action at UN Navalny calls on Russia to return clothes he was wearing when he fell ill MORE, President Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE's pick to lead the State Department, to retain senior career officials to handle global crises should he be confirmed.

Clinton, who served as secretary of State from 2009-2013 under former President Obama, said during an event in Michigan that she warned Pompeo against a "purge" of experienced administration officials when he called her recently.

"I told him that I thought he should take a hard look at retaining career diplomats who could advise him. Because you never know what might happen. You never know where the next hot spot or crisis will happen," Clinton said.

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Clinton said she was "deeply concerned" over the mass exodus of "some of the most qualified foreign service officers" over the past year and a half under recently ousted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne TillersonGary Cohn: 'I haven't made up my mind' on vote for president in November Kushner says 'Alice in Wonderland' describes Trump presidency: Woodward book Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE.

Trump nominated Pompeo, the current director of the CIA, to lead the State Department following a reshuffling of senior advisers and Cabinet officials starting last month.

Should he be confirmed to his new post by the Senate, Pompeo would enter a State Department rocked by a departmentwide restructuring proposal and push by Tillerson for steep budget cuts.

Tillerson, who saw the department's entire senior administrative team resign when Trump took office, led the State Department for a little over a year.

Clinton said Wednesday she was "happy" to speak with Pompeo, who had once grilled her before a House committee hearing over the 2012 Benghazi attacks.

The Senate will begin confirmation hearings for Pompeo on Thursday.