Late last week former CIA Director and President Trump's choice to be the next Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, sat through hours of questioning on Capitol Hill during his confirmation hearing.
With the exception of an outburst from Democrat Senator Cory Booker about "gay perversions," the hearing went relatively smoothly.
During the time leading up to the confirmation hearing, Democrats threatened to torpedo his nomination along with Republican Senator Rand Paul. But according to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Pompeo will and should be confirmed. Despite differences ideologically and politically, Graham voted to confirm Secretary of State John Kerry because he believed he was a qualified candidate and expects Democrats to do the same with Pompeo.
From the Hugh Hewitt show Monday morning:
HH: Now President Macron of France said yesterday that he had persuaded the President to stay. Then, this morning, he walked that back saying that maybe we won’t be staying. It’s very confusing. When Secretary of State Pompeo gets there, and by the way, will he be confirmed?
LG: If he doesn’t, it’d be a travesty. I’ve never been more disappointed in my Democratic colleagues on the Foreign Relations Committee. I tried to work with them. I know them all. You know, we have a good relationship. But to say that Mike Pompeo is not qualified to be Secretary of State under a Republican president really is just taking politics to the extreme. And I will remember this.
HH: Now, but I expect Joe Manchin and Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp to vote for him on the floor.
LG: They will.
HH: Do you?
LG: Yes, he will pass. I didn’t expect better from Rand Paul. You know, Rand Paul wants a libertarian president, wants a libertarian Secretary of State. But I thought elections did have consequences. I am so disappointed that very good senators could not understand that how qualified Mike Pompeo is to be Secretary of State. He’s the CIA director. He understands the threats of the world better than anybody. He’s a former Army officer, member of Congress, very sharp guy. But he will be Secretary of State, and I think he will have a view closer to mine. Here’s Syria in a nutshell. You’ll never destroy ISIS in Syria unless you deal with the Iranian situation, because they’re the recruiting magnet for ISIS. Here’s what ISIS heard. We’re leaving Syria. And they’re very excited. They can recruit now, because they’re the only people left to fight the Iranians, the Kurds that fought with us to take down ISIS. They’re going to be exposed to Turkey and Assad, and it’s going to be hard to recruit people in the future to help you. And from the Israel point of view, Syria becomes an armed camp for Iran. All this can change, but it has to change quick.
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It should be noted Democrats, including Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer, voted to confirm Pompeo as CIA Director.
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