Rand Paul not sold on Romney as secretary of state
Rand Paul isn’t sold on Mitt Romney as secretary of state.
The Kentucky Republican, who serves as a key swing vote on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that will consider Trump’s nominee to head the State Department, said in an interview Wednesday that he needs to hear more from the 2012 presidential nominee before he can commit to supporting him.
Paul’s main concern? Whether Romney is in line with Trump on opposing the Iraq War and regime change.
The libertarian-leaning Paul is one of the most skeptical Republicans in Congress when it comes to military intervention. And while Paul believes that Trump “gets it,” he’s not sure about Romney.
“We need to know more about what Romney’s viewpoint is,” Paul said. “I haven’t heard a lot from him that parallels [Trump], so I want to hear from him that he understands the historical significance of the Iraq war, making us less safe, making the region less safe and emboldening Iran. If people don’t understand the unintended consequences of the Iraq War, I don’t think they understand what Donald Trump said in the election.”
Unless Trump’s nominee can garner Democratic support on the Foreign Relations Committee, Paul could be the difference-maker in confirming a new secretary of state, since the panel is narrowly divided.
Paul has already tried to shoot down a few of the names floated for the job.
He called Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton “unrepentant advocates of the Iraq War” who “disagree profoundly with Donald Trump’s worldview” and suggested he would vote against them. Paul also criticized Gen. David Petraeus for his mishandling of classified information. The senator, however, has indicated Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) would be an acceptable pick.
But much of the buzz on the Republican side is around Romney, a top Trump critic-turned-cheerleader. The two dined on Tuesday night and Romney praised Trump’s “message of inclusion” in comments to reporters afterward. Romney, who lacks extensive experience on the world stage, talked little about his foreign policy views.
Still, Paul signaled he’s keeping an open mind on Romney.
“The main thing I’m interested in is trying to promote that we get a secretary of state that is someone who agrees with Donald Trump that regime change is a bad idea, nation building’s a bad idea and the Iraq War’s a mistake,” Paul said. “I just hope he’ll get somebody that agrees with his worldview.”