Since Donald Trump apparently can’t find anyone new who wants to work with him, he’s handling the record rate of turnover in his White House by putting his favorites on a rotation from one job to another. That’s recycling, Trump style. But just because the people up for freshly-emptied posts have already been approved for a different position, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have a smooth glide into their new role.
Senate confirmation isn’t expected to go as smoothly for President Donald Trump’s new selections for secretary of state and CIA director as they did last year.
Senate Democrats — and some top Republicans — are slow-walking the process amid fresh questions over the Trump administration’s stance toward Russia and the CIA’s dark history of torture.
Trump wants to replace Rex Tillerson at State with CIA director Mike Pompeo, because Pompeo has never made the mistake of telling Trump he was wrong. About anything. Part of what makes Pompeo and Trump so sympatico is their attitude about Russia.
"I continue to be concerned not only about the Russians but about others' efforts as well. We have many foes who want to undermine Western democracy. So there's this Washington-based focus on Russian interference. I want to make sure we broaden the conversation."
Presumably, Pompeo wants the conversation to include China and 400-pound basement dwellers. But if Pompeo is no shoe-in for State, his replacement at the CIA may be an even harder pill to swallow.
She played a direct role in the C.I.A.’s “extraordinary rendition program,” under which captured militants were handed to foreign governments and held at secret facilities, where they were tortured by agency personnel.
And at least one Republican has already made it known that he will oppose both nominations.
Pompeo was one of the first Trump appointees to actually take office. As a former member of the House of Representatives, he got a good deal of colleague courtesy as he sailed through the Senate on a 66–32 vote just three days after Trump moved into the White House. But having seen Trump’s continuing effort to gut the State Department, his erratic behavior overseas, and the decaying position of the United States around the world, Democrats may not be so ready to support Pompeo’s move to State.
And it won’t take much to make seating Pompeo difficult.
Rand Paul is vowing to do everything he can to stop Mike Pompeo from becoming secretary of state.
The libertarian-leaning GOP senator said Wednesday that Pompeo’s earlier support for the Iraq war and defense of enhanced interrogation techniques — or “torture” in the view of Paul and many other senators — is disqualifying. And the Kentucky senator indicated he may be willing to filibuster both Pompeo’s nomination and CIA director nominee Gina Haspel, who he says is “gleeful” in her defense of torture techniques.
With John McCain’s presence in the Senate uncertain due to his illness, Republicans can’t afford any more defections on Trump’s cabinet shuffle.
As a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, Paul will have a chance to vote against Pompeo and Haspel. But even if Trump’s nominees fail there, it’s likely that Mitch McConnell will simply skip over established protocol and bring the nominations to the full Senate.