Petraeus: CIA Nominee Will Tell Congress ‘She Gets It’ on Enhanced Interrogation Illegality

Retired Gen. David Petraeus, who was under consideration as President Trump’s secretary of State after the 2016 election, applauded Trump’s trade actions toward China as “long overdue” as well as his choice of CIA Director Mike Pompeo to lead the State Department.

“He’s a very bright individual – No. 1 in his class at West Point – that’s a special breed of an individual, Harvard Law school, successful businessman, obviously a successful political figure and has been a strong director of the CIA,” Petraeus said during a Veterans in Global Leadership reception on Thursday evening.

“So what I would look for there, in particular, would be how quickly can they get qualified individuals nominated and confirmed, because a State Department without confirmed assistant secretaries of State is a State Department that doesn’t have one of its most important elements,” he added.