As Progressives Nationwide Urgently Mobilize to Block Pompeo, Hillary Clinton Reportedly Gave Him 'Advice'

As civil rights organizations, LGBTQ advocates, environmentalists, and progressive lawmakers continue their urgent push to prevent the confirmation of torture-supporting warmonger Mike Pompeo as secretary of state, at least one prominent political figure has been perfectly "willing to help" Pompeo survive his upcoming Senate hearings: former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"On the whole, with very few exceptions, people who have spent years in Washington are more allied with each other than with the principles they claim to represent or the people they ought to be helping."
--Libby Watson, Splinter

According to a Politico report published Tuesday, Pompeo has reached out to every living former secretary of state "to ask for guidance" and "advice" as he looks to take over the thoroughly depleted State Department.

"Clinton, for one, has been willing to help," Politico reports, but it is unclear whether Kerry or any other previous secretaries of state have responded to Pompeo's request for advice.

"During their talk, Clinton advised Pompeo to stem the flight of career diplomats who quit under Tillerson, according to a person familiar with the call," Politico adds.

Clinton expressed a similar sentiment during a speech in New York City last week, saying that the massive outflow of career officials from the State Department is a "tragedy."

The former Secretary of State went on to suggest that Pompeo's nomination offers "one small glimmer of hope" because "when he went into the CIA, he only brought two people with him and he really relied on the career intelligence people."

While it is unclear what precisely was said during the reported conversations, commentators and activists were quick to express outrage that Clinton would even speak with, let alone offer advice to, a Trump administration official with a record like Pompeo's.

"Why is Clinton even taking a call from such a monstrous person?" wrote Splinter's Libby Watson, who noted that Pompeo has "defended torturers as 'heroes'" and espoused Islamophobic hysteria.

One possible reason, Watson suggests, is that "on the whole, with very few exceptions, people who have spent years in Washington are more allied with each other than with the principles they claim to represent or the people they ought to be helping."

In a similar vein, Evan Greer of Fight for the Future tweeted:

News that Clinton gave Pompeo advice comes as progressive groups kick into overdrive their efforts to block his confirmation ahead of Senate hearings set to begin on Thursday.

As Common Dreams reported on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has joined hundreds of anti-war, civil rights, and environmental groups in calling on the Senate to reject Pompeo.

In an email to supporters, CodePink noted on Tuesday that the "vote is expected to be tight and we have a real chance to stop" Pompeo from taking control over at the State Department.

"Pompeo advocates military intervention and regime change in North Korea, and supports ongoing unauthorized conflicts like the Saudi-led war on Yemen. When the Iran nuclear deal was signed, Pompeo blasted it as being 'not foreign policy, it's surrender,'" the group continued. "Since [national security adviser John] Bolton's appointment did not require a vote, a vote for Pompeo is also a vote for Bolton and a vote for war. Act now to tell the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to oppose Pompeo."