Pompeo stated both that, Trump ‘did not ask him to do anything improper’ and, “I don’t recall what he asked me that day.”
Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo, facing his first day of confirmation hearings before the Senate, refused to clearly answer the question as to whether or not Trump asked him to interfere with the Russia investigation.
Bob Menendez of New Jersey, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, asked Pompeo about a Washington Post report that in March last year that he and National Intelligence director Dan Coats were alone with Trump when he complained about the FBI investigation and James Comey’s handling of it.
This account strongly suggests that the president asked you and Director Coats to interfere with then FBI director Comey’s investigations into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia,” Menendez said. “What did President Trump say to you and Director Coats in that meeting?”
Pompeo replied: “Senator, I’m not going to talk about the conversations that the president and I had … But I will tell you this. The article’s suggestion that he asked me to do anything improper is false.”
Under further questioning, he added: “I don’t recall what he asked me that day, precisely. But I have to tell you, I’m with the president an awful lot – he has never asked me to do anything that I considered remotely improper.”
Pompeo also confirmed that he was questioned as part of the Mueller investigation but dodged questions regarding it.
When asked if he would resign if Trump fired Mueller, Pompeo said he would not.
Pompeo’s remarks today are deeply troubling and signal that he will embolden Trump’s quest to shut down the Russia investigation.
If that’s not disturbing enough, Pompeo goes into the confirmation with strong opposition from progressive groups based on his history of homophobia, Islamophobia, support of torture, warmongering and climate change denial.
Pompeo even stated today, that he thinks being gay is a “perversion.”
DEMOCRATIC ACTIVISTS AROUND the country have become energized by the nomination of Mike Pompeo as the new secretary of state, kicking off a bout of organizing around foreign policy that has little precedent outside the lead-up to an imminent invasion.
The question now is whether that enthusiasm will transfer to Senate Democrats themselves, or whether they will usher him through as they did in January 2017 when he was confirmed as CIA director. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., voted to confirm Pompeo last year.
Call on your Senators today and demand they put up a fight!