Senate Confirms Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State

The final votes are in and Mike Pompeo has now been confirmed as Secretary of State.

The senate voted 57-42 on Thursday, meaning that the CIA Director will take Rex Tillerson‘s place and become President Trump‘s new top diplomat. The White House had pushed for lawmakers to confirm Pompeo by Thursday so he could head to a NATO meeting in Brussels on Friday.

Trump gave a brief statement on the news to reporters:

.@POTUS congratulates Pompeo: “He will always put the interests of America first. He has my trust. He has my support. Today, he has my congratulations on becoming America’s 70th Secretary of State.”

— Saagar Enjeti (@esaagar) April 26, 2018

Pompeo’s nomination faced a number of challenges over the last few days, and he took a lot of scrutiny for not disclosing his secret trip to North Korea. As secretary of state, Pompeo’s first tasks will probably include denuclearization negotiations with Kim Jong Un, and a review of the Iran nuclear deal.

[Image via screengrab]

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