Washington—Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today released the following statement opposing the nomination of Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State:

“The Secretary of State is our country’s top diplomat. The position requires experience, wisdom and a deft touch, someone who can represent America’s best qualities to the world. Above all, our top diplomat must be committed to diplomacy and view war as a last resort. Given Mike Pompeo’s history, I cannot support him as Secretary of State.

“In 2014, during multilateral negotiations, then-Congressman Pompeo called for talks to be suspended and for the United States to attack Iran. In February 2016, shortly after the agreement took effect, Pompeo sent the Supreme Leader of Iran a highly provocative letter requesting a visa to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities. Later, after the 2016 elections, he tweeted: ‘I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal.’ These aren’t the words of a diplomat.

“I’m very concerned about Mike Pompeo’s statements about Muslims and the LGBT community. Following the Boston Marathon bombing, he falsely suggested Muslim-Americans were complicit in the attacks. After the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex marriage, he said the court’s opinion was a ‘shocking abuse of power’ that ‘flies in the face of ... our Constitution.’ These aren’t the words of a diplomat.

“The Secretary of State is a very different role than CIA director, and it’s not the kind of position you learn on the job. I sense a certain disdain for diplomacy in Mike Pompeo that I believe disqualifies him from being our next senior diplomat. I urge President Trump to nominate someone capable of proudly representing all of America in the pursuit of peace.”

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