Kaine to vote against Pompeo for secretary of State

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) confirmed on Sunday he will not vote to confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo as secretary of State, increasing the likelihood that President Trump’s nominee could fail to get a positive vote out of committee.

“I have decided to vote against him to be secretary of State,” Kaine told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”

{mosads}“We need a secretary of State who’s going to stand up for strong diplomacy, and I don’t believe that is Director Pompeo’s inclination,” he said. 

Kaine voted to confirm Pompeo as CIA director due to his background working in intelligence, but cited his opposition to the Iran nuclear deal and his support of Trump’s military action in Syria without congressional approval for voting against him as the nation’s top diplomat. 

“Now more than ever, we need a Secretary of State who will stand strong for vigorous U.S. diplomacy. I believe that Mike Pompeo would exacerbate President Trump’s weaknesses rather than uphold our diplomatic legacy,” Kaine said in a separate statement. 

On the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has also said he will oppose Pompeo. If all of the panel’s Democrats vote against Pompeo, he would not get a positive vote out of committee. Kaine sits on the panel.

Pompeo would be the first secretary of State nominee to receive an unfavorable committee vote since 1925, according to CNN.

Most observers think Pompeo would still be confirmed in a Senate floor vote, where centrist Democrats are likely to back his nomination.