Shaheen Announces Her Opposition to Pompeo's Nomination to be Secretary of State

(Washington, DC)—U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement on her decision to not support the nomination of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo to serve as Secretary of State:

“After careful consideration, I cannot support Director Mike Pompeo’s nomination to serve as Secretary of State,” said Shaheen. “I appreciate his willingness to serve and his dedication as Director of the CIA, as well as the commitments I received during his confirmation hearing regarding the office of Global Women’s Issues, human rights and refugee resettlement. However, his previous roles are fundamentally different from that of Secretary of State, who represents American values around the world. The Secretary of State is a policy-making position and I continue to have deep concerns regarding Mr. Pompeo’s past statements and policy views, particularly in regards to the LGBTQ community, American Muslims and women’s reproductive rights. For these reasons, I have concluded that I cannot support Director Pompeo to lead the State Department at this critical time.”