Shaheen Statement Following Meeting with Secretary of State Nominee Mike Pompeo

(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), the only woman on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement after meeting this evening with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Mike Pompeo, who is President Trump’s nominee to serve as Secretary of State:

“I appreciated my conversation with Director Pompeo about his nomination to serve as the next Secretary of State,” said Shaheen. “This was a valuable opportunity to hear his views on the diplomatic challenges facing our country around the globe. Today’s meeting was a preliminary conversation and I look forward to asking him more questions during his confirmation hearing later this week.”

Senator Shaheen is the lead Democrat of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development. Shaheen has been a fierce advocate for women and girls around the world and has prioritized issues that raise women up, such as advocating on behalf of family planning and women’s global health, spearheading efforts to end violence against women, securing women leadership roles in conflict resolution and peace negotiations and authoring legislation to address barriers that girls around the world face in accessing education.

Additionally, Shaheen has led efforts in Congress to hold Russia accountable for its interference in the 2016 US elections and for its continued aggression against Western democracies. Shaheen was instrumental in ushering Russian sanctions legislation through the Senate. Shaheen has been an outspoken critic of President Putin’s authoritarian regime and was the first in Congress to call for hearings on Russian interference in September 2016. Shaheen was blacklisted by the Russian government, in part, because of her strong support for Russian sanctions. Senator Shaheen is also a co-chair of the Senate North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Observer Group, which she re-established with Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) in February.