Trump makes first visit to State to swear-in Pompeo

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump is making his first visit to the State Department to attend the ceremonial swearing-in of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo, the former CIA director, is replacing Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon executive fired unceremoniously by Trump in March after months of personality and policy clashes.

Pompeo was confirmed last Thursday, and was officially sworn-in hours later by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito before he embarked on his first foreign trip as secretary.

Trump avoided the State Department during Tillerson’s rocky tenure, and has been slow to fill a slew of top diplomatic postings. Pompeo is promising to reinvigorate the department and restore its “swagger.”