WASHINGTON _ When Rep. Mike Pompeo sought out his fellow Kansan, Sen. Pat Roberts Tuesday, he had a pressing question on his mind.
Roberts, a former chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, didn't know why Pompeo wanted to meet.
But when Pompeo told him that the transition team for President-elect Donald Trump had asked him if he'd be interested in running the Central Intelligence Agency, Roberts wasn't surprised.
Pompeo's resume, Roberts said, is a natural fit for the job: A graduate of West Point and Harvard. An Army veteran. A former business executive. A vocal member of the House Intelligence Committee.
Roberts said Pompeo's role in briefing Mike Pence on Iran and Libya before the vice presidential debate in October piqued the Trump team's interest in the conservative congressman from Wichita. (Pompeo's office declined a request for comment.)
In a private meeting, with no staff present, Pompeo asked Roberts for his advice.
Roberts was frank: The job wouldn't be easy.
"A lot of that comes from the territory," Roberts said in recounting the meeting. "If there's a real intelligence failure, it doesn't matter if you were really responsible for that particular failure or not. You're in charge. It's a situation that changes. It becomes very volatile."
The two men talked through it, and Pompeo said he'd like the job. He asked Roberts to put in a good word for him with the Trump transition team.
Roberts made calls to two people he knew on the team.
Pompeo also talked to Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
Nunes, like Roberts, recommended the Pompeo "I am very confident he'll be a capable and smart CIA Director," Nunes said.
Wednesday, Pompeo met with Trump.
"I don't think there's any question about it," Roberts said. "There's no dilly-dallying around or trying to go around the subject matter or making any excuse. He's very direct, and I think without question (Trump) found that very refreshing."
Trump announced Friday that Pompeo would be the nominee.
In Kansas, State Sen. Forrest Knox, a Republican whose district overlaps with Pompeo's congressional district, texted Pompeo to tell him he was praying for him.
"I need your prayers now more than ever," Pompeo texted back.
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(Bryan Lowry of the Wichita Eagle contributed to this report.)
