4/26/2018

MIKE POMPEO/SECRETARY OF STATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The U.S. Senate confirmed Mike Pompeo as President Donald Trump’s secretary of state on Thursday [4-26-18], and the former CIA director set off immediately on a trip to meet key allies in Europe and the Middle East. Pompeo, a former Army officer who was a Republican congressman, is regarded as a Trump loyalist with hawkish world views. Pompeo is already deeply involved in diplomacy. Trump sent him to North Korea three weeks ago to meet with the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, ahead of a summit with the U.S. president to address Pyongyang’s nuclear program. Moments after Pompeo was sworn in, the State Department said he would visit Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel during the weekend after attending a NATO meeting on Friday in Brussels.”

-Patricia Zengerle, Lesley Wroughton, “Pompeo becomes U.S. secretary of state as North Korea, Middle East issues await,” Reuters, April 26, 2018 10:02 am