Jim Himes says Mike Pompeo would be ‘good secretary of state’

Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut said Friday that CIA Director Mike Pompeo would make a good secretary of state, breaking with most of his fellow Democrats in the Senate who are lining up against President Trump’s pick to lead the department.

“I said on TV the other day that if I were a senator, I would probably be inclined to vote for him,” Mr. Himes said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” when asked whether he was lobbying Democrats in the Senate on Mr. Pompeo’s behalf. “But the answer is ’No,’ I am not pushing any senators on that issue.”

“I think he’d be a good secretary of state,” he added. “Again, I disagree with a lot of the things he said as congressman, but I think he’d be a competent secretary of state.”

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is expected to vote next week on Mr. Pompeo’s nomination to lead the State Department. Given the opposition from Democrats on the committee and Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the 21-member committee might have to send to nomination to the Senate floor without a favorable recommendation.

Still, the prospects of Mr. Pompeo’s confirmation brightened on Thursday when North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who is among the more vulnerable incumbents up for re-election this year, became the first Democrat in the upper chamber to announce she would vote to confirm Mr. Pompeo.

Mr. Himes and members of the House do not have a role in the confirmation process.

On Friday, Mr. Himes, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he was happy to learn that Mr. Pompeo, the current director of the CIA and former member of the House, traveled to Pyongyang to meet with North Korea leader Kim Jong-un.

“I always believe in talking and obviously this is high stakes poker,” Mr. Himes said. “I hope the president can get something out of these negotiations other than you know Kim Jong-un having a photo op with the guy.”

“We disagree on just about everything politically, but he is a competent, smart guy with integrity and very, very, practical,” he said of Mr. Pompeo. “So I like the idea that he went there to sort of pave the way for what could be one of the highest consequences negotiations the country has done.”