Pompeo says his instincts tell him that he would not resign as secretary of state if Trump fires Mueller or Rosenstein. (via CBS) pic.twitter.com/YaDSc7GiAE
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) April 12, 2018
CIA Director Mike Pompeo sat before the Senate for his confirmation hearing for Secretary of State on Tuesday where he was grilled on a number of subjects, including the ongoing Russia investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. At one point during the line of questioning, Sen. Christopher Coons (D-DE) asked Pompeo whether or not he would resign as Secretary of State should President Trump fire Mueller or interfere with his investigation in any way, “putting the rule of law genuinely at risk.”
The Tea Party-affiliated former Kansas state representative’s answer was disappointing but not wholly surprising — after actually admitting that he hadn’t given the question any thought. Really? That had never even occurred to him?
“My instincts tell me no. My instincts tell me that my obligation to continue to serve as America’s senior diplomat will be more important at increased times of political domestic turmoil. We have seen this in America before, right? This wouldn’t be the first time that there has been enormous political turmoil.
“My recollection of the history is that previous secretaries of state stayed the course, continued to do their work, continued to do their requirements, statutory and constitutional that they had. Having not given it a great deal of thought I’m confident that’s the path that I would take.”
Sen. Coons then urged for Pompeo to, you know, give it some thought since it’s important that our chief diplomat understands and is willing to fight for basic American values.
Meanwhile, despite Trump’s shouty Twitter denials to the contrary, hundreds of thousands are preparing to protest should the president take the steps to cut Mueller loose. The progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org is preemptively planning rallies in all 50 states and the territory of Puerto Rico if Trump fires Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, or attempts to compromise the investigation by any other means.
“Donald Trump could be preparing to put himself above the law. We won’t allow it,” states the website with a map of events and 300,000 RSVPs and counting.