Mike Pompeo, the longest serving member of President Donald Trump’s national security cabinet, is also his fiercest advocate, a tactic that has helped keep him in power within the administration for nearly four years, even when that loyalty sometimes leaves him alone on the battlefield.
Pompeo returned to that role on Thursday when the Secretary of State danced around a defense to Trump’s tweet about the Election Day move this November because the “universal vote by mail” threatens to make it “the most UNACCURRED election and FRAUDULENT of history, “said the president. reclaimed.
During Senate testimony, Pompeo noted that a “complete mail-in voting program” presented a “level of risk.”
“I saw this in my home state of Kansas,” he continued. “When you change the voting rules getting closer to an election, it is a difficult task.”
Later pressured by Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, on Trump proposing to change the election starting Nov. 3, Pompeo said he “was not going to make a legal judgment on that on the fly this morning” – rather than differ the Department of Justice and others to “make that legal determination.”
“It should happen legally,” added Pompeo.
But Kaine replied: There is no way for a president to legally change Election Day because it is set by Congress, with an 1845 statute still in effect.
“I don’t think it’s such a difficult question or that it should lead to the mistake of someone who is fourth in line to succeed as president of the United States,” added the former Democratic vice presidential candidate, noting that Pompeo was a Senior graduate of Harvard Law School.
Pompeo tried to jump, but Kaine moved on to another topic.
For the secretary and other Republican leaders, it was a common defense of the President, avoiding alienating or upsetting the boss without necessarily endorsing his idea.
The surprising thing is that almost no other Republican did the same on Thursday.
Top Republicans in the House and Senate rejected the idea. House of Representatives minority leader Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, said: “We should move on,” while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, said, “Never in history. of the country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever had a federal election scheduled on time, and we will find a way to do it again this November 3. ”
Pompeo has sewn himself so tightly onto Trump, rarely if ever has he broken up with him, even when he personally disagrees with an issue, such as Trump’s decision to pull US troops out of Syria or not retaliate against Iran. for shooting down a US drone.
That strategy has kept him going much longer than former colleagues like Defense Secretaries James Mattis and Patrick Shanahan, National Security Advisers HR McMaster and John Bolton and, of course, his predecessor, Rex Tillerson.
But critics like Senator Bob Menéndez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have also presented that closeness as a political strategy for Pompeo’s personal aspirations, accusing him of changing America’s foreign policy for internal political purposes.
While Pompeo was rumored to be considering running for the Kansas Senate, he declined to join the race, as the June 1 filing deadline has passed. But he has been more open about his presidential ambitions, and told business leaders at the Economic Club last year: “There is nothing you do not consider doing for the United States.”
But walking on that tight rope has put Pompeo in a tight position multiple times, rather than trying to sweep up charges of hypocrisy or questions about confusing policy changes.
He spent weeks enshrining the administration’s push for “complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization of North Korea,” only to face questions about the Trump deal and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un who failed to reach an agreement with that goal; he dismissed them as “insulting and ridiculous and downright ridiculous.”
Pompeo, a supporter of Iran, repeatedly listed several changes to the Iranian government before any meeting between Trump and Iranian leaders. But before the UN General Assembly in New York last September, he said “there were no preconditions” for a possible meeting with President Hassan Rouhani, only for Trump to tweet days later that he would not comply “” No conditions ” ”
Amid the coronavirus pandemic, he touted American contributions to the World Health Organization on March 31 as the key to “protecting Americans and keeping us safe,” but only a few weeks later, he and Trump began to criticize to the WHO as disastrous and they finally announced that the United States would withdraw from the UN agency.
That move was put on display again Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He said Trump leads “the toughest administration in Russia,” and noted several policies aimed at putting pressure on the Kremlin. But when asked about Trump’s comments Tuesday that he had never raised the issue of Russia offering the Taliban rewards for killing US troops, Pompeo danced again.
“I always leave the president what he wants to say to other leaders,” he said.
Pompeo called Trump’s withdrawal of troops from Germany “threatening” to Moscow. When the Kremlin spokesman was pressured to welcome him later that day, he did not respond, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen, DN.H., moved on.
Kaine used the same tactic to prevent Pompeo from responding on Election Day by turning to former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was belittled by Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, before being ousted.
After refusing to praise the veteran ambassador, Pompeo argued with Kaine about Giuliani’s campaign against her. While the secretary was smiling and sometimes chuckling, Kaine accused him of treating the subject as “just a big joke. I mean, hey, look at you, smiling and laughing and calling him a fool.”
This time, Pompeo received the last word: “I don’t think it’s silly for the United States Department of State to understand that every ambassador, every political appointee knows that if the President of the United States discovers that they lack confidence in you, the president has the right to rescind them. It’s that easy. It includes me. “
.
