MIKE POMPEO/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/SENATE/STATE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Senators on Thursday [4-12-18] implored Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director nominated to be secretary of state, to stabilize the Trump administration’s erratic diplomacy by standing up to Russia and other adversaries and reinstalling American influence among allies. Under persistent questioning, Mr. Pompeo said that he had spoken to Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. But Mr. Pompeo refused to describe what he had said, maintaining he was at the hearing to discuss foreign policy. In a week when President Trump issued a fusillade of tweets about Syria, Russia and China that set a new standard for contradictory and inconsistent policy positions, the question of how Mr. Pompeo would manage White House impulses that can have global impact was the focus at the hearing’s start.”
-Gardiner Harris and Eileen Sullivan, “Senators Urge Secretary of State Pick to Avoid Trump’s ‘Worst Instincts’” The New York Times online, April 12, 2018