WASHINGTON — While preparing for his new role, Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo reached out to every living former secretary of state, including Hillary Clinton, a source close to Pompeo who is familiar with his preparation told CNN.
Politico was first to report that Pompeo has reached out to the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee.
Last month, President Donald Trump nominated Pompeo, then his CIA director, to replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Pompeo will face a confirmation hearing later this week.
Clinton and Pompeo have their own shared history in Washington.
While in Congress, Pompeo questioned Clinton regarding her private email server and the Benghazi attacks. Though the House Select Committee on Benghazi found no new evidence of wrongdoing, Pompeo and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, filed their own addendum asserting that the incident showed that the State Department was “seemingly more concerned with politics and Secretary Clinton’s legacy than with protecting its people in Benghazi.”
And Pompeo, now a fervent opponent of WikiLeaks in his role in the Trump administration, repeatedly cited the group to attack Clinton during the campaign, a CNN KFile review of his tweets and media appearances shows.
Despite Pompeo’s frequent criticisms, Clinton said during a speech this month that she saw “one small glimmer of hope” in his nomination to her former role.
“When he went into the CIA, he only brought two people with him and he really relied on the career intelligence people,” she remarked, according to the Washington Examiner.
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