Sen. Angus King said Thursday that CIA Director Mike Pompeo will need to face an entirely new confirmation process in order to move over to the State Department.
“If Mike Pompeo is going to move from the CIA to the secretary of state, there clearly has to be a full confirmation process: hearings in the Senate process, and Senate vote on confirmation. Those are two very different jobs,” Mr. King, Maine independent, said on CNN.
“State is an entirely different job. It’s a policy job,” Mr. King said.
Mr. Trump announced earlier this week that Mr. Pompeo would replace Rex W. Tillerson as secretary of state, and career intelligence official Gina Haspel would take over at the CIA.
Questions swirled about whether Mr. Pompeo — who already went through a confirmation process for the CIA post — would need to face the Senate again. Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican, already said a hearing would take place in April.
• Sally Persons can be reached at spersons@washingtontimes.com.
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