The Senate has now secured enough votes to approve Pompeo’s nomination to be Secretary of State, as they’ve just had their first Democrat come on board to support him:
THE HILL – Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) said Thursday that she will support President Trump’s nomination of CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of State, virtually guaranteeing he will win confirmation.
Heitkamp, who faces a difficult reelection race this fall in a state Trump won by double-digits, becomes the first Senate Democrat to announce her support for Pompeo.
“The role of the State Department is to support our diplomatic missions to avoid conflict, support American interests, and stand up for our allies, and having a leadership team in place is essential to carrying out those jobs,” she said in a statement.
If he is confirmed, Heitkamp said that she would “hold Mr. Pompeo accountable to make sure he advances our country’s leadership in the world and supports our embassies.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) opposes Pompeo’s nomination and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) has been absent, leaving Republicans with a maximum of 49 votes for his confirmation. Heitkamp’s vote would get them to 50 — allowing Vice President Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote.
I think she won’t be the only Democrat to support Pompeo, which would mean they’d have enough votes without Pence casting the tiebreaker.
But this is surely good news for Trump, who has been pushing Rand Paul pretty hard to support Pompeo. Now Rando can vote his conscience, but he still might have to endure a nasty tweet from Trump if he ‘lets Trump down’.