DEMS/MIKE POMPEO/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “The top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Wednesday [4-18-18] he will oppose President Donald Trump’s nomination of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, making it unlikely he will have the committee’s backing before the full Senate votes. Senator Robert Menendez criticized the Trump administration, and CIA chief Pompeo in particular, for lacking a strategic vision across the foreign policy spectrum. He also criticized Pompeo for failing to disclose his recent trip to North Korea in meetings with lawmakers…Pompeo, currently director of the Central Intelligence Agency, can still be confirmed by the full Senate without the committee’s support. However, he would be the first secretary of state nominee, at least since such votes were made public in 1925, not to win the panel’s backing. His supporters say they expect that at best he would be confirmed by a narrow margin by the full Senate. Senator Ben Cardin, another senior Democrat on the committee, also announced his opposition on Wednesday.”
–Patricia Zengerle, “Pompeo nomination runs into more U.S. Senate Democrat opposition,” Reuters, April 18, 2018 6:35 am