Trump’s secretary of state pick struggled to defend his past statements during Thursday’s confirmation hearing.
By Zack Beauchamp@zackbeauchampzack@vo
The most telling moment of Mike Pompeo’s secretary of state confirmation hearing on Thursday came at the very end.
Sen. Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, decided to stop asking Pompeo questions and instead took some time to compare the answers Pompeo had given at the day’s hearing to what he has said in the past on the same issues.
Menendez ticked off contradiction after contradiction: Pompeo said during the hearing that he supports a diplomatic approach to Iran’s nuclear program, but in the past has said that regime change is “the only way” to deal with the problem. He said today that he opposes regime change in North Korea but had mused just last year about toppling the Kim regime. And it went on from there.
The pattern was clear: Pompeo has a long history of extreme rhetoric, on issues ranging from the use of military force to Islam to LGBTQ rights — but had spent the entire hearing presenting a much less extreme, and more palatable, version of his views. After about five hours of hearings, it was clear that Menendez had had enough.
“As we close here,” the senator said, “I am trying to think about which Mike Pompeo I will be asked to vote on.”
Menendez didn’t know the answer to that question — and the American people don’t either. But the answer matters, as he may very well soon be the country’s secretary of state.
Read more
No comments:
Post a Comment