The Republican who heads the U. S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Monday that U. S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, will face tough questions on North Korea and Iran if he is to be confirmed in the role.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Republican who heads the U. S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee said on Monday that U. S. President Donald Trump’s nominee for secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, will face tough questions on North Korea and Iran if he is to be confirmed in the role.
“There are going to be some tough issues he’s going to have to navigate, like Iran, like North Korea, numbers of things, and I’m planning to talk with him privately about those,” Senator Bob Corker said ahead of a meeting with Pompeo, the current CIA director.
Corker said the meeting was his “beginning assessment” of Trump loyalist Pompeo, who was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives before moving to the CIA.
Corker said he could not predict whether the 21-member panel would back Pompeo at his nomination hearing in April. One of the committee’s 11 Republicans, Senator Rand Paul, has already announced his opposition over issues including his concern that Pompeo would support war with Iran.
