john bolton is now officially the most influential member of trump administration.WASHINGTON — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a late pivot on Monday evening, approved the confirmation of Mike Pompeo to be the next secretary of state, after Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, bowed to pressure from President Trump and dropped his opposition.
For days, the committee appeared ready to deliver a historic rebuke. Since it began considering nominees in the late 19th century, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has never given a nominee for secretary of state anything but a favorable vote, according to the Senate historian. It has been almost 30 years since any cabinet nominee was reported to the full Senate with an unfavorable recommendation.
But minutes before the committee convened, Mr. Paul, an ardent opponent of interventionist foreign policy, declared his support for Mr. Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, to lead the State Department, securing approval from the committee.
“After calling continuously for weeks for Director Pompeo to support President Trump’s belief that the Iraq war was a mistake, and that it is time to leave Afghanistan, today I received confirmation that Director Pompeo agrees with President Trump,” Mr. Paul wrote. “President Trump believes that Iraq was a mistake, that regime change has destabilized the region and that we must end our involvement with Afghanistan. Having received assurances from President Trump and Director Pompeo that he agrees with the president on these important issues, I have decided to support his nomination.”
Mr. Trump told reporters last week that Mr. Paul has “never let us down” and that “he’s a good man.”
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With two moderate Democrats signaling their support for Mr. Pompeo earlier on Monday, the confirmation of the United States’ top diplomat by the full Senate this week was all but secured anyway.
Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, intends to move the full chamber to begin debate on Mr. Pompeo’s nomination as soon as Wednesday, with a final vote expected before senators leave Friday for a weeklong recess.
But supporters of Mr. Pompeo feared that he would become the country’s 70th secretary of state with a bruised standing on the world stage after a Foreign Relations Committee rebuke.
“I understand the climate we are in. I understand the polarization we have as a nation,” Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, the committee’s chairman, said Monday. But Mr. Corker touted Mr. Pompeo as one of the most qualified secretaries of state in history, ticking through his résumé.
Even Monday, it took a “present” vote by Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, to allow the nomination to move forward after Senator Johnny Isakson, Republican of Georgia and a Pompeo supporter, did not show because he was delivering a eulogy out of town.
But the partisan environment that Mr. Corker lamented, in the end, provided Mr. Pompeo a lift. Democrats up for re-election in states that Mr. Trump carried in 2016 broke the nominee’s way: Senators Joe Manchin III of West Virginia and Joe Donnelly of Indiana pledged their support on Monday, joining Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, who declared her “yes” vote last week. Other endangered Democrats from Trump states are under pressure to also fall in line.
