Donald Trump Names Kansas Rep. Mike Pompeo as His Pick for CIA Director

The Kansas congressman is on the House Intelligence Committee.

ByABC News
November 18, 2016, 10:31 AM

— -- Rep. Mike Pompeo, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has been offered the position of CIA director, the Trump transition team said today.

The three-term Republican congressman from Wichita, Kansas, is a member of the House Energy Committee and the Intelligence Committee, which is responsible with conducting oversight of U.S. intelligence agencies and practices.

“I am honored to have been given this opportunity to serve and to work alongside President-elect Donald J. Trump to keep America safe," Pompeo said in a statement. "I also look forward to working with America’s intelligence warriors, who do so much to protect Americans each and every day."

As a member of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, Pompeo and fellow conservative Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, published a supplement to the majority report that was more sharply critical of Hillary Clinton's State Department and the administration's handling of the 2012 attacks on U.S. facilities in Libya. The report also accused the administration of misleading the public about events in Libya.

A West Point graduate who graduated first in his class in 1986, Pompeo attended Harvard University Law School after leaving active duty, and was also an editor at the Harvard Law Review.

Pompeo, 52, initially supported Sen. Marco Rubio's presidential campaign, and considered challenging Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran in his Senate primary this year.

He is a staunch critic of President Obama's foreign policy and, particularly, of the Iran nuclear deal, which President-Elect Donald Trump has criticized.

Pompeo traveled to Trump Tower for a meeting with the GOP president-elect earlier this week, as Trump continues to fill out his cabinet and incoming administration.

Pompeo will have to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Devin Dwyer contributed to this story.

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