Here are the highlights from Night 2 of the Republican National Convention

Pompeo took time from an official U.S. diplomatic trip to the Middle East to virtually address the Republican National Convention on Tuesday.

Speaking from Israel, Pompeo outlined several foreign policy initiatives under the Trump administration. He discussed the relaxation of tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the U.S. handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the ongoing fight to eliminate the ISIS caliphate, the NATO alliance and the U.S. departure from the landmark Iranian nuclear deal. 

“President Trump has put his America First vision into action. It may not have made him popular in every foreign capital, but it has worked,” Pompeo said in recorded remarks. “As a soldier, I saw, first hand, people desperate to flee to freedom. The way each of us can best ensure our freedoms is by electing leaders who don’t just talk, but deliver,” he added.

Pompeo’s speech, which was recorded in Jerusalem while on official State Department travel, raised concerns from lawmakers, former diplomats and foreign policy experts of American diplomacy and its entanglement in partisan battles at home.

The decision to address the convention upends decades of precedent and ethics guidelines and is currently under investigation by the House Foreign Affairs Committees’ subpanel on oversight. The subcommittee’s chairman, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, called the speech “highly unusual and likely unprecedented” and suggested, “it may also be illegal.”

The State Department said that America’s top diplomat will address the convention in “his personal capacity.” It also said that no resources from the Department of State will be used, including staff, who will not have a role in preparing Pompeo’s remarks.

“The State Department will not bear any costs in conjunction with this appearance,” a State Department representative added. — Amanda Macias

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/25/rnc-highlights-night-2.html