Tell the Senate: Block and resist Mike Pompeo’s confirmation as Secretary of State

Tell the Senate: Block and resist Mike Pompeo’s confirmation as Secretary of State. Add your name:

It's outrageous. Trump just fired Rex Tillerson, one of the few people left in his cabinet who was willing to speak out against Vladimir Putin.1 But even more egregious is that Trump nominated Mike Pompeo, a xenophobic, pro-torture, climate-denying war hawk, to replace Tillerson.2 The mission of the Department of State is to build diplomatic relationships with foreign countries and to represent the United States at the United Nations. If Trump succeeds in anointing his pro-war lapdog Mike Pompeo, it will be disastrous for U.S. diplomacy and could undermine years of negotiating for peace with Iran. Pompeo’s nomination must go through Senate confirmation, which is why it is so important that we all speak up now. Tell the Senate: Block and resist Pompeo’s confirmation as Secretary of State. Click here to sign the petition. Pompeo has been outspoken in his opposition to the Iran Deal, a historic agreement between the United States, Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom that keeps Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, since its initial negotiations in 2015.3 When Trump threatened to completely pull out of the accord last year, Tillerson was reportedly one of the few people who kept him in line.4 Instead, Trump took the symbolic step of decertifying the deal and called on Congress to pass legislation to break our international commitments under the agreement. Democrats in Congress blocked Republican efforts to do what Trump asked, but now, Trump is saying that if he doesn’t get his way by May 12, he’s going to unilaterally tear up the deal.5 European allies have been working to try to meet Trump’s demands without violating the deal. Tillerson’s Department of State was leading negotiations on those modifications.6 Now, if an outspoken opponent of diplomacy like Pompeo takes the lead, there may be no one standing in the way of Trump dismantling the agreement. What’s more, Pompeo has lambasted Iran in the past – comparing the country to ISIS in a speech in October7 and colluding with hawkish special interests.8 If he is confirmed as our nation’s chief diplomat, he might just single handedly put our country back on the path to a devastating war with Iran. Tell the Senate: Block and resist Pompeo’s confirmation as Secretary of State. Click here to sign the petition. Pompeo doesn’t just lack the restraint and common sense not to lash out at countries as the U.S. tries to build diplomatic relationships with them, his positions on torture and track-record of making anti-Muslim statements would seriously undermine the United States position in the world.9 He’s also a leading supporter of expanding domestic spying programs and wants to supercharge the NSA’s bulk collection of metadata.10 What’s more, Pompeo praised the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris climate accord, which was one of Trump’s biggest failures in international relations. As the former president of an oilfield production business closely affiliated with Koch Industries, Pompeo has also been the number one recipient of Koch money since he was first elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010.11 There is no way the Senate should confirm someone so vastly unqualified – and so deeply in the pocket of corporate special interests – to serve as secretary of state. Click the link below to tell the Senate to block Pompeo’s confirmation. https://act.credoaction.com/sign/Block_Pompeo?t=8&akid=27664%2E3130208%2E05wFSY - Kaili Lambe, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Ashley Parker et al, “Trump ousts Tillerson, will replace him as secretary of state with CIA chief Pompeo,” The Washington Post, March 13, 2018. Abigail Williams and Rachel Elbaum, “Tillerson says U.K. spy poisoning ‘clearly’ came from Russia,” NBC News, March 13, 2018. Holly Ellyatt, “Why Secretary of State nominee Mike Pompeo is probably bad news for Iran,” CNBC, March 13, 2018. Igor Bobic and Jessica Schulberg, “Threat To Iran Deal Grows With Rex Tillerson’s Ouster,” HuffPost, March 13, 2018. Ibid. Arshad Mohammed, “With Pompeo's Rise, Uncertainty Deepens for Iran Nuclear Deal,” U.S. News, March 13, 2018. Robert Windrem, “CIA Director Pompeo Lashes Out at Iran, Compares It to ISIS,” NBC News, Oct. 12, 2017. Ned Price, “Why Mike Pompeo Released More bin Laden Files,” The Atlantic, Nov. 8, 2017. Creede Newton, “Mike Pompeo on Muslims, torture and Guantanamo Bay,” Al Jazeera, March 13, 2018. Curtis Tate and Lindsay Wise, "Rep. Mike Pompeo Wants to Revive Mass Surveillance Program" McClatchyDC, Jan. 27, 2016. Marianne Lavelle, “Mike Pompeo, Climate Policy Foe, Picked to Replace Tillerson as Secretary of State,” Inside Climate News, March 13, 2018.

Tell Rex Tillerson: Stop allowing Russia to meddle in U.S. elections

Petition to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson: "Stop sabotaging the State Department Global Engagement Center’s efforts to combat Russian meddling in American elections. Grant the Center the funding Congress allocated and ensure it has the staffing and leadership it needs to be successful." Add your name: Top American intelligence officials have warned that Russia is already meddling in the upcoming midterm congressional elections.1 But the Trump administration is refusing to take steps to prevent it. Russia used propaganda, armies of social media “bots,” spokespeople and on-the-ground organizers to disrupt the 2016 elections. Similar nefarious efforts to disrupt the rapidly approaching midterm elections are already in the works, according to the heads of American intelligence agencies. But despite the stark warning, Donald Trump continues to mock Russian interference in U.S. elections.2 His crony at the State Department, Rex Tillerson, has gone one step further. Tillerson has denied funding to a special unit designed to fight ISIS and Russian propaganda, according to recent reports.3 We need to ramp up public pressure on Tillerson to stop sabotaging anti-propaganda efforts and giving Russia a free pass to meddle in our elections. Tell Rex Tillerson: Stop allowing Russia to meddle in U.S. elections. Click here to sign the petition. Congress granted the State Department’s Global Engagement Center $120 million to fight Russian propaganda. But the center has yet to see a dime of that money.Tillerson and his small group of political operatives nixed the funding. What’s more, his attacks on American diplomacy through hiring and promotion freezes have left the Center without any staffers who speak Russian. Tillerson’s sabotage is even hurting the Center’s long-standing efforts to combat ISIS propaganda.4 Worst of all, Tillerson’s team may be refusing to fund the Center in order to appease Russia:5 At one point during the discussions [about funding the Center], Tillerson aide R.C. Hammond suggested the money is unwelcome because any extra funding for programs to counter Russian media influence would anger Moscow, according to a former senior State Department official. The State Department already missed the deadline to spend the first $60 million. But it is not too late for Tillerson and his cronies to fast-track the funding for the Global Engagement Center, remove hiring freezes and give the unit the staffing and leadership it needs to be successful.6 A foreign power is actively working to interfere in our elections, and the State Department cannot sit idly by and allow it to happen. Even Republican senators have criticized the Trump team for letting Russia meddle in our elections unimpeded, and a former Bush administration under secretary for public diplomacy told The New York Times, “They’ve got the vehicle to do this work in the Center. What they don’t have is a secretary of state or a president who’s interested in doing this work.”7,8 With bipartisan condemnation growing, we have an opportunity to shame Trump, Tillerson and the State Department or force them to act. Tell Rex Tillerson: Stop allowing Russia to meddle in U.S. elections. Click below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/russia_tillerson_state?t=7&akid=27611%2E3130208%2Ek04db_ - Kaili Lambe, CREDO Action Add your name: References: Matthew Rosenberg, Charlie Savage and Michael Wines, “Russia Sees Midterm Elections as Chance to Sow Fresh Discord, Intelligence Chiefs Warn,” The New York Times, Feb. 13, 2018. Ibid. Gardiner Harris, “State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0.” The New York Times, March 4, 2018. Ibid. Nahal Toosi, “Tillerson spurns $80 million to counter ISIS, Russian propaganda,” POLITICO, Aug. 2, 2017. Harris, “State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0.” Toosi, “Tillerson spurns $80 million to counter ISIS, Russian propaganda.” Harris, “State Dept. Was Granted $120 Million to Fight Russian Meddling. It Has Spent $0.”