House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) said on Thursday that she opposes President Donald Trump's Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo.
"Do you have any thoughts on Pompeo going to North Korea and do you support him as the person to represent the U.S. in these talks?" a reporter asked Pelosi.
"I'm always in favor as they say 'jaw, jaw, jaw' rather than 'war, war, war.' So if the president is going to meet with Kim Jong Un, it's important to have preliminary meetings. I hope that Pompeo would not be confirmed as secretary of state," Pelosi said.
"If you are asking me should he then on Tuesday be confirmed as secretary of state–or Monday I guess is when the vote is up–I don't support that. No," Pelosi added.
Pompeo, who is the current director of the CIA, is scheduled to have the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote on his nomination on Monday. Democrats on the committee along with Republican Senator Rand Paul (Ky.) plan to vote against Pompeo's nomination. Their cited reasons for opposing the nomination range from Pompeo's perceived hawkish stances to his opposition to gay marriage.
Ranking Member Sen. Bob Menenedez (D., N.J.) announced his opposition this week, citing the fact Pompeo, during pre-confirmation hearing meetings, didn't disclose his secret meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"Even in my private conversations with him, he didn't tell me about his visit to North Korea," Menendez said. "Now I don't expect diplomacy to be negotiated out in the open but I do expect for someone who is the nominee to be secretary of state, when he speaks with committee leadership and is asked specific questions about North Korea, to share some insights about him."
Trump confirmed Wednesday that Pompeo secretly met with Kim Jong Un last week ahead of a planned summit between Trump and the young North Korean leader over potential denuclearization of his rogue country.