Pompeo Faces Rebuke; Senators Question VA Nominee; Romney Fails GOP Nomination.
KING: Welcome back. Mike Pompeo likely to make a little history today, not in a way he would like. Barring a last minute change of heart, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this afternoon will vote against Pompeo's nomination to be secretary of state, with all of the Democrat and Republicans Rand Paul opposed. Pompeo, who's currently the CIA director, still likely to be confirmed by the full Senate, but he would be the first secretary of state to take office after being rejected in committee. The president making clear he's not happy, tweeting this morning, hard to believe obstructionists may vote against Mike Pompeo for secretary of state. CNN's Phil Mattingly live on Capitol Hill counting the votes. Phil, is this about Pompeo's resume or is this about his boss, the president?</s>PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, look, Democrats have certainly cited the former's kind of resume, whether it's his posture in which they consider far too hawkish for a diplomatic position, past comments related to LGBT issues or Muslims, just kind of his overall consideration on that front as their rational for voting no. But they also kind of give away a little bit in what they say next, which is they're concern about how close he is to the president, which underscores the fact that the latter idea, the president himself, is really looming large over this nomination. The fact that he is very comfortable with Mike Pompeo. The fact that Mike Pompeo's role in his cabinet will only grow and perhaps not check the president where Democrats say he should. You know it's interesting, you talk to Republicans and they say, look, go through the guy's resume, whether it was at West Point, whether it was at Harvard, whether it's his time as CIA director, which even Democrats who were opposed to his nomination say they're pretty much -- they applaud that up to this point. The reality remains that he's on the president's team. He's comfortable with the president. And Democrats are uncomfortable with that fact. If you roll through kind of where past nominees have been, whether it's the unanimous approval of Colin Powell, secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and John Kerry both getting 94 votes in favor, there's a dynamic that has shifted on Capitol Hill right now and Mike Pompeo is certainly on the receiving end of that. If the president nominates somebody, frankly Democrats are likely, at this stage in time, whether because it's political or because of the issues they have with that nominee, they're going to be opposed, John.</s>KING: And, Phil, is my math right, two Democrats now, Joe Manchin of West Virginia today says he's a yes. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota said that at the end of last week. Two at the moment?</s>MATTINGLY: Yes, that's exactly right. Joe Manchin coming out today in a tweet. I want to read part of it. It says, after a meeting with Mike Pompeo discussing his foreign policy perspectives and considering his distinguished time as CIA director and his exemplary career in public service, I will vote to confirm Mike Pompeo. Heidi Heitkamp, on Friday, I'm told, expect at least potentially at least one, potentially two more Democrats will come on board and will give him enough votes to get over the finish line when he gets to the Senate floor. But a rather ignominious distinction, not just getting an unfavorable recommendation from the committee, but also the fewest votes in favor of any secretary of state nominee. The person who held that record -- or currently holds that record before Mike Pompeo, well, that would be Rex Tillerson with 56. Mike Pompeo probably going to end up somewhere around 52, 53 range, John.</s>KING: Welcome to the politics of the moment. Phil Mattingly live on Capitol Hill. Phil, appreciate that. Heidi Heitkamp, Joe Manchin, the two Democrats on the record of yes. Now they share this. They're both up for reelection this year and they both come from states -- Donald Trump carried West Virginia by, what, 42 points. I think North Dakota was only 30 something. But they get it. They get the dynamics there. But are -- is that -- is that just it, that the Democratic base is calling these guys up and saying you cannot vote for Mike Pompeo? Because to Phil's point, let's just put this up. Look at this list of secretary of state nominees here. Rex Tillerson, 56-43, but then John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell, Madeline Albright, Warren Christopher, James Baker, George Schultz, back to Alexander Haig. Things were political in the Reagan administration and in the Bush administration and in the Clinton administration, and in the next Bush administration and even in the Obama administration. But especially for secretary of state, usually it was, OK, the president deserves his team.</s>RAJU: Yes.</s>KING: This is -- this is mostly about Trump, if not all about Trump, isn't it?</s>RAJU: Yes, it is. And you're a Democratic member who's not from a red state, who's not up for reelection, you're listening very closely to what your base is saying, and they want to resist. They want to fight Trump at all costs. It doesn't matter if there's someone who Mike Pompeo both sides agree is qualified for this position, even if they disagree with his ideological point of view. But very clearly, more -- most of the Senate Democratic caucus is a very progressive caucus, a very liberal caucus, wants to fight Trump tooth and nail. You do have those handful of red state Democrats who view this as an opportunity to break from the natural party, to side with the president, which is why you're seeing Manchin and Heitkamp vote for this nominee, but you'll also probably going to see Joe Donnelly vote for this nominee. You probably are going to see maybe one or two more. So you'll barely scrape by. And one other point. There are two other nominees that are coming through, Ronny Jackson to be the VA secretary, Gina Haspel to be the CIA director. Some of these members don't want to be voting no every single time, particularly those Democrats from red states. Maybe they'll vote for one or vote against one of them, but not all three of them, as liberal members will do.</s>KING: Right. And, again, traditionally the argument is, the president deserves his team, even if I disagree with the president's views or with -- just the ideology of the person in place. And so, with Pompeo, that's why it is surprising to see so many no's in the sense that if you do look at him, he was top of his class at Harvard. He was top of his class at West Point. He did serve in the House of Representatives. Most Democrats, as Phil noted, give him pretty high marks, not only for the job he's doing as CIA director, but for his openness to them when they have questions. That he's actually, unlike some people in the government in all administrations, he's actually answering the questions when Congress calls. So there's that. But to the VA question, now, that is a -- that is a -- seems to be a legitimate, bipartisan question of qualifications. Everybody likes Dr. Ronny Jackson. He was President Obama's physician. He's President Trump's physician now. I haven't heard anybody speak an ill word of him. But listen to these senators, two Democrats and two Republicans. Senator Jerry Moran of Kansas, doesn't have the experience you think would traditionally be required at the VA. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, he's got a great bedside manner but it doesn't mean he'll be a good leader of the VA. John Boozman of Arkansas, I do have concern about his experience so far as managing people. Patty Murray of Washington, he has some issues with management. He hasn't really overseen a large group. Two Democrats, two Republicans, what they share are seats on the Veterans Affairs Committee where Ronny Jackson has to make his case later this week.</s>COLLINS: And Veterans Affairs hits home for a lot of people, for your constituents. You cannot vote for someone and put them in that position if you do not have full confidence in how they are going to run the VA, which, of course, has a lot of problems. So I think it hits home for a lot of people. So the White House is saying that these Democrats need to get him confirmed, that he has impeccable credentials, which Ronny Jackson does. He is very well liked in the White House obviously by the president. They hold him in very high regard. But that doesn't mean that he has the experience to run an agency of this caliber. So that is the question here now. And the White House says it's just Democrats. But it's not just Democrats. It's a lot of Republicans too who are -- if they have not voiced their opposition to him, they are very skeptical of having him be confirmed for this. So he is going to be grilled in his confirmation hearing.</s>RAJU: And watch how the veterans service organizations comes out. That's going to be key to determining whether or not he's ultimately confirmed and how he resolves any of their concerns. They've been quiet so far, but if the come out and say they're opposed, expect some Republicans to say no as well.</s>COLLINS: Yes.</s>LUCEY: And it really speaks, I think, to looking ahead. We've just been through a period where the president has seen a lot of turnover, has brought in a lot of new people. If it's this kind of process every single time he needs a confirmation, it really raises questions about whether he can afford to make any -- make more changes.</s>KING: As the -- that's the Pruitt question, front and center. No time to talk about that one, but that one's front and center. And if Ronny Jackson can't secure the votes, when you have another one. It's hard anyway given the political environment. It's even harder because Republicans don't want to be doing this in an election year, especially on something -- you mentioned the VA. You want to talk about an issue that they -- they have to answer when they go home to some of -- so they don't get asked a lot about the secretary of state when they go home and do town halls. They get asked a lot about the Department of Veterans Affairs and the hospitals.</s>COLLINS: Exactly.</s>KING: All right, a quick break. When we come back, just want to let you know, we're awaiting a press conference in Tennessee where a massive manhunt has been underway for the gunman who killed four people at a Waffle House early Sunday morning. Again, police saying a news conference coming up soon. We'll follow that. But next for us, is this a Republican primary race or a family feud?