MEDIA/MIKE POMPEO/SAUDI ARABIA/SENATE/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Senators rapped Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Wednesday for being less than forthcoming on a series of issues, as the top US diplomat sidestepped questions on Washington’s support for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, the Saudi killing of Jamal Khashoggi and why Washington is treating Mexico like an ‘enemy of the United States.’ One lawmaker described the top US diplomat’s approach to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as ‘silence with a dash of obfuscation,’ as senators on both sides of the aisle expressed frustration. Republicans and Democrats started by pressing Pompeo on the State Department’s failure to disclose information on ‘an important issue’ they couldn’t even name in public. Sen. Robert Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, said the committee wouldn’t have learned about the issue ‘that had not previously been shared with us, would not in fact have been shared had we not raised it with you’ in a classified briefing. The disclosure ‘may have made the difference in how Senators voted on a particular matter,’ added Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the committee.”
–Nicole Gaouette, “Senators, irritated by evasions, rap Pompeo for ‘silence with a dash of obfuscation’,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 10, 2019 6:29 pm