President Trump said he’s optimistic that Sen. Rand Paul will vote to confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo to be secretary of state after Pompeo’s “really great” meeting last week with Kim Jong Un.
Paul, R-Ky., says he opposes Pompeo’s nomination. This makes it possible Pompeo will get a negative Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommendation, possibly jeopardizing his chances in a floor vote.
Critics of Pompeo cast him as a war-monger, and Paul pressed him during a recent confirmation on the legality of Trump’s strikes on Syria and on the wisdom of keeping troops in Afghanistan.
“I will say this about Rand Paul: He’s never let me down. Rand Paul is a very special guy so far as I’m concerned,” Trump told reporters ahead of a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Florida.
“He’s never let me down, and I don’t think he will let us down again. So let’s see what happens. If you remember, he voted for healthcare and he did us a big favor. It was someone else who voted against it. So I have a lot of confidence in Rand, ” Trump said.
He continued: “But I also have a great deal of confidence in Mike Pompeo. I think Mike Pompeo will go down as one of the great secretaries of state. And by the way he just left North Korea, had a great meeting with Kim Jong Un, and got along with him really well, really great, and he’s that kind of guy. He’s very smart, but he gets along with people.”
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