Monday, Congressman Mo Brooks, R-Hunstville, announced that he has sent a letter to Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, urging him to vote to confirm CIA Director Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State.
“I urge Senator Jones to vote to confirm Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State,” Brooks said. “I personally know Mike Pompeo. He has an impeccable reputation, graduated first in his class at West Point, served as a Captain in the U.S. Army, graduated Harvard Law School (where he made Law Review), and has served capably and honorably as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency.”
“With the upcoming vote on Mike Pompeo, Senator Jones has the opportunity to keep his campaign promise to be bipartisan and put the interest of America above the partisan obstructionism that has plagued the Senate for years,” Brooks concluded. “Each president of the United States has the right to select his cabinet and, absent some major nominee flaw, it is incumbent upon the Senate to confirm those nominees so that the president can put together the team he needs to properly carry out his duties. Mike Pompeo has no major, disqualifying flaw. As such, I ask and hope Senator Jones will put aside partisanship and defer to the wishes and judgment of President Trump and vote to confirm Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State.”
Jones recently voted against confirming Congressman Jim Bridenstine, R-Oklahoma, for Administrator of NASA even though Bridenstine was a veteran Navy pilot who has flown combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan in the E-2 Hawkeye and flown the F-18 Hornet, as well as the MC-12 tanker aircraft.
Bridenstine also had a MBA from Cornell and was the former executive director of the Tulsa Air and Space Museum & Planetarium. All Democrats in the Senate, including Doug Jones, voted against Bridenstine’s confirmation.
Secretary of State is vacant after Rex Tillerson resigned. CNN reported that Trump asked Tillerson to resign.
Trump and Tillerson were known to disagree over issues ranging from how to deal with North Korea to the future of the Iran nuclear deal.
The relationship between secretary of state Tillerson and President Trump was perhaps irrevocably breached by reports that he called Trump a “fucking moron” in front of other top officials.
Trump has nominated CIA Deputy Director Gina Haspel to replace Pompeo as CIA Director.
“Mike Pompeo, Director of the CIA, will become our new Secretary of State,” Trump said on Twitter. “He will do a fantastic job! Thank you to Rex Tillerson for his service! Gina Haspel will become the new Director of the CIA, and the first woman so chosen. Congratulations to all!”
Brooks ran for U.S. Senate himself in 2017, finishing third in the Republican primary behind Bentley-appointed Sen. Luther Strange and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in the Republican primary. Jones reached out to disaffected Republicans who did not like Moore in the general election on December 12.
Mo Brooks represents Alabama’s 5th Congressional District.
Original reporting by CNN, Vox, and Fox News contributed to this report.
