The White House is on a full-court press to confirm Mike Pompeo as secretary of state — hinting delays in a Senate vote on President Donald Trump's pick could hurt talks with North Korea, USA Today reported.
The push comes in the wake of the president's revelation the CIA director met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hit Twitter on Wednesday to urge Pompeo’s confirmation in light of the North Korea meeting news.
One of Pompeo's staunchest supporters in the Senate, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said the North Korea visit shows Pompeo is not the dangerous hawk critics fear, USA Today reported.
"There's not many worse regimes than North Korea on the face of this earth, and to sit down with this leader and try to find a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula should show them all that he is committed to diplomacy in his new role as secretary of State," Cotton said, the news outlet reported.
The key among Republicans might be Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. — and President Donald Trump turned on the charm to woo him.
"I will say this about Rand Paul: He has never let me down," Trump said during a summit meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Palm Beach, Florida. "Rand Paul is a very special guy, as far as I'm concerned."
Meanwhile, Republicans pushing for the confirmation are counting on support from Democrats up for re-election in states Trump won: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, D-N.D., Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., USA Today reported.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., told reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast meeting in Washington that "from my standpoint, it's a plus. But others may have different feelings."
According to Corker, the United States and North Korea have been in touch through "back channels" over the years, adding it is "perfectly natural" Pompeo as CIA director would have the first meeting with the North Korean leader, USA Today reported.
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