During an interview today with Fox News’ Jon Scott, Senator Portman discussed the importance of confirming Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State. He highlighted Director Pompeo’s extensive qualifications including his military career, his time on the House Intelligence Committee, his successful career as a businessman, and his role as CIA Director. Portman says that presidents are entitled to choose their own advisers, and nothing about Pompeo is disqualifying – that’s why he was confirmed with bipartisan support as CIA Director by a wide margin of 66-32. Portman believes we must have someone in place to advance our interests on the world stage, and that Director Pompeo is eminently qualified to fill this role.

Excerpts of the interview can be found below and a video can be found here.

PORTMAN ON CONFIRMING MIKE POMPEO FOR SECRETARY OF STATE

“We will probably [vote for Pompeo] Wednesday or Thursday. If Democrats object to moving forward with his nomination, they can push it off until Thursday, but then we’re going to have a vote. It’s about time, you know, we need someone there badly. You were just talking earlier on your show about what is going on with regards to Iran, North Korea, obviously is an area that needs attention right away, Syria, what is going on on the eastern border of Ukraine. I mean there’s lots of stuff going on around the world right now and we need somebody there. I was disappointed, actually, that we couldn’t get Democrat support in committee, including a number of members who supported Mike Pompeo’s nomination as CIA Director…

“… it shouldn't be this hard and shouldn’t be this narrow of a margin. John Kerry won by 94 votes, his confirmation. Hillary Clinton got 94 votes. You know, it’s traditional when a president wants somebody as Secretary of State that Senate Republicans and Democrats alike say ‘we may not agree on the policy issues but this person is qualified, it’s the president’s choice and we need to get somebody in that job.’ Mike Pompeo, as you know, graduated top of his class at West Point, he then went on to become an Army officer. He also had a successful career in the private sector. He was on the House Intelligence Committee. He’s a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, this is a smart guy. Most recently, he’s done a good job at the CIA. He clearly has the qualifications for this job. I think it’s disappointing, I think it’s a sad commentary on what’s going on in Washington today, that he doesn’t have more support on both sides of the aisle.”

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