Liz Cheney: Rand Paul Is ‘Sympathizing With Terrorists’ By Opposing Haspel

The US spy agency gets its first woman director – Gina Haspel, who ran the secret Thailand-based waterboarding “black site” torture facility.

“We think that President Xi will come out of [the 19th Party Congress] in a dominant position with incredible capacity to do good around the world”, [Pompeo] said Thursday in Washington.

“Mike Pompeo, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, will become our new Secretary of State”, Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.

“With Mike, Mike Pompeo, we have a very similar thought process”.

Concerns are rising that the appointment of a hardliner as the chief US diplomat could deter negotiations for the planned meeting between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The US intelligence assessment is that the 2015 deal to curb Iran’s nuclear weapons program is on balance a good one, and that Trump’s criticism of it threatens efforts to constrain Iran’s nuclear ambitions and ties with the other nations that negotiated the pact, China, France, Germany, Britain and Russian Federation.

The State Department was unaware of the reasons for Tillerson’s firing, an official there said Tuesday morning.

Reports say that in April 2009 the administration of President Barack Obama gave USA officials involved in the interrogation program protection from legal action.

“Gina is a very competent professional who I think deserves the chance to take the seat”, he said.

Both sides have offered a different accounts of when the Secretary of State was told he was being fired.

“Tillerson never achieved the confidence of President Trump…and could not build a personal relationship with the president and it is extremely important that the president has confidence in the Secretary of State”, Shapiro explained in an interview with the PanAm Post.

Qassemi said on Wednesday that the United States could not be trusted. As the officials filed out, Tillerson shook their hands one by one and handed them a secretary of state coin.

But Paul’s opposition is all but certain to make it more likely Republicans will need Democratic support for the confirmations, or rely on Vice President Mike Pence to break a tie.

The statement, issued more than 24 hours after US President Donald Trump tapped Pompeo for the job, did not mention his predecessor, Rex Tillerson.

“In actions and by experience it’s been seen that the policies and approach of America can not be trusted very much”, Qassemi said, according to state media.

Though not the traditional pathway for those that have filled the top diplomatic position, one can see the strength that can arise from someone who has negotiated trade agreements with foreign entities for a living. While his appointment seemed to suggest the Trump administration would not throw the rules-based global order entirely out the window, it was clear shortly after his nomination that Mr. Tillerson would never have the ear of his boss.

Mr Tillerson was reported to be astonished at how little Mr Trump grasped the basics of foreign policy.