Politics

Pompeo Confirmed For CIA Head, Rex Tillerson Approved By Senate Panel

President Trump's CIA director pick was confirmed Monday, and his secretary of state is moving on for confirmation from the Senate.

Pompeo Confirmed For CIA Head, Rex Tillerson Approved By Senate Panel
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President Donald Trump's CIA director pick, Mike Pompeo, was confirmed by the Senate on Monday.

The Senate was originally supposed to vote Friday on whether to confirm the nominee, but Democrats managed to stall the vote until Monday evening.

Pompeo — a former representative from Kansas — has a background in the military and graduated at the top of his class at West Point.

Another of Trump's nominees passed a major roadblock in his own nomination process Monday.

Paperwork To Hearings: What It Takes To Confirm A Presidential Nominee
Paperwork To Hearings: What It Takes To Confirm A Presidential Nominee

Paperwork To Hearings: What It Takes To Confirm A Presidential Nominee

After a ton of paperwork and a background check, the process ends in the U.S. Senate.

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Rex Tillerson, Trump's choice for secretary of state, was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The committee voted 11-10 along party lines, but only after Sen. Marco Rubio said he would reluctantly support Tillerson.

The former CEO of Exxon Mobil has been a controversial nominee due to his close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Rubio wrote a Facebook post explaining why he decided to approve Tillerson's nomination. He wrote, "It would be against our national interests to have this confirmation unnecessarily delayed or embroiled in controversy."

Tillerson still has to be confirmed by the Senate before he can becomes secretary of state.