WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump, trying to avoid an embarrassing defeat for his choice for secretary of state, has asked Republican critic Rand Paul to meet with Mike Pompeo to persuade the Kentucky senator to vote yes.
Trump called Paul Wednesday to urge him to meet with Pompeo, now the CIA director, in the hopes he might change his mind.
"Because the president asked me to and because I have a great deal of respect for the president, I will meet with Director Pompeo sometime before the vote," Paul told reporters late Wednesday. He said it would take a "great deal" to change his mind.
Trump, who is spending the week at his resort in Palm Beach, said Wednesday he wasn't worried about Pompeo's confirmation and that Paul would come through for him.
"I will say this about Rand Paul: He's never let me down," Trump said. "Rand Paul is a very special guy, as far as I'm concerned. He's never let me down. And I don't think he'll let us down again. So let's see what happens."
He noted Paul ultimately voted for a Senate health care bill "and he did us a big favor. It was somebody else that voted against it that hurt us. So I have a lot of confidence in Rand, but I also have a great deal of confidence in Mike Pompeo."
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has scheduled to vote on the nomination Monday, where it has an uncertain fate. Republican leaders had considered bypassing the committee and sending the nomination directly to the floor for a vote but scrapped the idea.
With Paul opposed and Republican John McCain of Arizona out battling cancer, Pompeo needs some Democrats to be confirmed.
But nearly every Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee has already announced they oppose the former Kansas congressman, even the two who supported him for CIA director last year, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire. Several others also have come out against him. Many have cited what they consider Pompeo's anti-American views on religious freedom, Muslims and gay people.
Paul said Wednesday that he doesn't think Pompeo "shares the same vision of the president on foreign policy," noting that Trump has repeatedly said the Iraq War was a mistake and that it is time to end the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan. He's also suggested he wants the U.S. to leave Syria.
"He seems to be consistently against engaging in new large land wars in the Middle East, and I haven't gotten the feeling that Director Pompeo agrees with that," Paul said. "I think he's been more of the 'Let's stay forever in the Middle East, let's stay forever in Afghanistan.'"
Paul said he wants Pompeo to say publicly, not privately, that he agrees with Trump's position. "It would be a big deal for me to change my position on him," he said. "It would really take Director Pompeo showing that he really does agree with the president's vision that the Iraq War was a mistake, that we stayed in Afghanistan too long."
