Pompeo Says Softer U.S. Policy Toward Russia Is ‘Now Over’

Senators pressed Mike Pompeo to avoid becoming a “yes man” for President Donald Trump’s foreign-policy impulses if he’s confirmed as secretary of state, in a hearing where the CIA director walked back past comments about Iran and North Korea that critics say proved him a hard-liner.

With the U.S. threatening a military strike in Syria, engaged in high-risk diplomacy with North Korea and weighing whether to quit the Iran nuclear deal, Pompeo found himself in an occasionally contentious back-and-forth Thursday with Democratic senators -- and the occasional Republican -- who sought assurances that if confirmed he’d try to rein in what they described as Trump’s erratic decision-making.