Mike Pompeo is facing a confirmation hearing so tough, he asked Hillary Clinton for advice
CIA Director Mike Pompeo has called Hillary Clinton "morally reprehensible." He has said her handling of the 2012 Benghazi attack was "worse, in some ways," than Watergate, and has asserted that she was more concerned with her "legacy" in its wake.
Now, he's asking her for advice.
Pompeo, tapped by President Trump to replace the ousted Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, has reached out to Clinton — along with every other living former secretary — to prepare for a difficult Senate confirmation hearing, Politico reported.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Clinton, perhaps unexpectedly, didn't just hit ignore on the call. There were "lengthy" discussions between former state secretaries and the potential secretary-to-be, sources told Politico.
Maybe it's because Clinton sees a "glimmer of hope" in her adversary, as she said earlier this week. Pompeo didn't uproot career intelligence officials when he joined the CIA, Clinton noted, adding that she hoped he could "rebuild" the State Department that Tillerson "decimated."
Pompeo will sit before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
Find art, beautiful parks and bright pink soup in VilniusThe Week Recommends The city offers the best of a European capital
-
Greenland: The lasting damage of Trump’s tantrumFeature His desire for Greenland has seemingly faded away
-
Minneapolis: The power of a boy’s photoFeature An image of Liam Conejo Ramos being detained lit up social media
-
Trump sues IRS for $10B over tax record leaksSpeed Read The president is claiming ‘reputational and financial harm’ from leaks of his tax information between 2018 and 2020
-
Trump, Senate Democrats reach DHS funding dealSpeed Read The deal will fund most of the government through September and the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks
-
Fed holds rates steady, bucking Trump pressureSpeed Read The Federal Reserve voted to keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged
-
Judge slams ICE violations amid growing backlashSpeed Read ‘ICE is not a law unto itself,’ said a federal judge after the agency violated at least 96 court orders
-
Rep. Ilhan Omar attacked with unknown liquidSpeed Read This ‘small agitator isn’t going to intimidate me from doing my work’
-
Democrats pledge Noem impeachment if not firedSpeed Read Trump is publicly defending the Homeland Security secretary
-
The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
-
Hegseth moves to demote Sen. Kelly over videospeed read Retired Navy fighter pilot Mark Kelly appeared in a video reminding military service members that they can ‘refuse illegal orders’
