Rand Paul casts key vote, Mike Pompeo moves towards confirmation as Secretary of State

CIA Director Mike Pompeo has been approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to be secretary of state in a party line vote. Rand Paul switched his vote late in the day, enabling Pompeo’s nomination to advance to a vote by the full Senate.

Two Democrats who sit on that committee and who voted for Pompeo’s confirmation as CIA director, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Tim Kaine of Virginia, announced that they opposed Pompeo’s confirmation.

Paul announced back in March that he was opposing the confirmation of CIA director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State and Gina Haspel, a torturer, to replace him at the CIA. “It goes against most of the things President Trump campaigned on, that the unintended consequences of regime change in Iraq led to instability in the Middle East,” Paul said of the nominations.

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President Trump said a few days ago that Rand Paul was a “very special guy” who has “never let me down.”

“I just finished speaking to @realDonaldTrump, after speaking to him several times today. I also met with and spoke to Director Pompeo,” Paul tweeted Monday. “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 added.

Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Donnelly of Indiana all have announced their support for Pompeo, virtually assuring his confirmation by the full Senate no matter what the committee said.

Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who had also expressed some reservations about Pompeo, has stated that he had also decided to support Pompeo’s nomination.