Mike Pompeo Appointed as Trump Adminstration’s New Secretary of State

With a tally of 57-to-42,  CIA Director Mike Pompeo was appointed by the Senate as the Trump administration’s new Secretary of State Thursday afternoon, despite skepticism about his contentious policy protocols.

The Washington Post reports that Pompeo’s confirmation was hastened to ensure that Pompeo would be in attendance at Friday’s NATO conference in Brussels as the nation’s newly-appointed Secretary of State.

As the director of the CIA, Pompeo became a close confidant of President Trump, having established a close-knitted connection through their routine intelligence briefings.

According to The New York Times, President Trump’s implicit trust in Pompeo led the former to entrust Pompeo with the responsibility of traveling to Pyongyang last month to negotiate with North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, in preparation of June’s summit meeting between the two nations.

As Pompeo assumes his duties as secretary of state, he is expected to have a prominent role in advising the president about foreign policy challenges concerning U.S relations with Russia, the Iran nuclear deal, the impending potential of a trade war with China as well as the June summit meeting with North Korea, as reported by The New York Times.