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Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Ex Rex

Rex Tillerson is out at the State Department.  Mike Pompeo will be nominated to be his replacement.  The new head of the CIA will be the current deputy director of that agency and the first woman to head the CIA:  Gina Haspel.  This is a good move by President Trump.  It has been clear for a long time that Trump and Tillerson were not on the same page regarding a host of policy issues.  Pompeo reportedly has done a great job at the CIA, and he will be more likely to change the atmosphere at State where change has always been a dirty word.

The big question to me is whether or not the Senate Democrats will try to stall the nominations so that Pompeo won't be in place in time for the meeting with Kim Jong Un.  I think that under the Vacancies Act, Trump can appoint Pompeo as Acting Secretary of State, but that hopefully will not be necessary so long as the Senate Democrats behave in a responsible manner.  Politics should not interfere with a possible deal with the North Koreans.

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