Senate confirms Pompeo’s appointment as state secretary

The US Senate has confirmed the nomination of former CIA chief Mike Pompeo for the office of the secretary of state. His candidacy was given the green light by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Monday.

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'We're exceptional, Russia is not': Pompeo takes hard line in Senate pitch

Senators voted 57-42 in favor of the candidacy, narrowly overcoming the Democrats' resistance to Pompeo. Critics were concerned that his hawkish attitudes and failure to oppose some of the more offensive statements made by Trump in the past about foreigners.

Pompeo is to replace Rex Tillerson as America’s top diplomat. Tillerson was fired by President Donald Trump in late March after months of speculation over his imminent departure from the cabinet.

The first major event for the now-confirmed Secretary Pompeo will be a NATO meeting in Brussels. He then plans to travel to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel over the weekend, the State Department said.

Pompeo's previous post in the Trump administration was as director of the CIA, the office he assumed in late January 2017. Prior to that he was a member of the House of Representatives from Kansas.

Hailing Pompeo's confirmation as a victory for efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula, the White House released photos of his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un earlier this month.

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