Michael Pompeo
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Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
as
director of the Central Intelligence Agency The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. Beginning February 2017, the ...
(CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th
United States secretary of state The United States secretary of state is a member of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States and the head of the U.S. Department of State. The office holder is one of the highest ranking members of the president's Ca ...
from 2018 to 2021. He is the first person to have held both of those positions. After graduating from the
United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
in 1986 and his obligatory five-year service as a
United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...
officer, Pompeo earned a law degree from Harvard Law School. He worked as an attorney until 1998 and then became an entrepreneur in the aerospace and oilfield industries. Pompeo was elected to the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from 2011 to 2017, representing . Once a critic of Donald Trump, whom he called " authoritarian", Pompeo became one of his biggest supporters after Trump became the Republican nominee in the
2016 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2016 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2016 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *7 January: Kiri ...
. Trump appointed him
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. Beginning February 2017, the ...
in January 2017 and Secretary of State in April 2018. Pompeo was the Trump Administration’s most vocal critic of the
Chinese government The Government of the People's Republic of China () is an authoritarian political system in the People's Republic of China under the exclusive political leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It consists of legislative, executive, m ...
, including his opposition to the oppression of Uyghur Muslims, and focused U.S.-China relations in opposition to China's policies regarding Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea. He advocated for moving the American Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem and the withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. During Pompeo's tenure as Secretary of State, he prioritized grounding human rights in
religious liberty Freedom of religion or religious liberty is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance. It also includes the freedom ...
and brokering peace in the Middle East. He established the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom, moved the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and negotiated the
Abraham Accords The Abraham Accords are a series of joint normalization statements initially between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, effective since September 15, 2020. Mediated by the United States, the initial announcement of August 13, 2020, ...
which established diplomatic normalcy between
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
. He was among the staunchest Trump loyalists in the Cabinet and routinely flouted State Department norms in aid of Trump’s objectives.


Early life and education

Pompeo was born in
Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before 1920. While many other ...
, the son of Dorothy (born Mercer) and Wayne Pompeo. His paternal great-grandparents, Carlo Pompeo and Adelina Tollis were born in
Pacentro Pacentro is a ''comune'' of 1,279 inhabitants of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is a well-preserved historic medieval village located in central Italy, several kilometers from the City of Sulmona about east of Rome. Pacentro has ...
, Abruzzo,
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, and emigrated to the United States in 1899 and 1900, respectively. In 1982, Pompeo graduated from
Los Amigos High School Los Amigos High School, located in Fountain Valley, California, is one of seven high schools in the Garden Grove Unified School District. Los Amigos High School is located at the southeast corner of Newhope Street and Heil Ave and is one block e ...
in
Fountain Valley, California Fountain Valley is a suburban city in Orange County, California. The population was 57,047 at the 2020 census. History The area encompassing Fountain Valley was originally inhabited by the Tongva people. European settlement of the area b ...
, where he played forward on the basketball team. In 1986, Pompeo graduated first in his class from the
United States Military Academy at West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
, where he majored in engineering management. He was a classmate of Brian Bulatao and Ulrich Brechbuhl, who later helped him found Thayer Aerospace. From 1986 to 1991, Pompeo served in the U.S. Army as an armor officer with the
West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
-based 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division. He served as a
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engi ...
platoon leader {{unreferenced, date=February 2013 A platoon leader (NATO) or platoon commander (more common in Commonwealth militaries and the US Marine Corps) is the officer in charge of a platoon. This person is usually a junior officer – a second or first ...
before becoming a cavalry
troop A troop is a military sub-subunit, originally a small formation of cavalry, subordinate to a squadron. In many armies a troop is the equivalent element to the infantry section or platoon. Exceptions are the US Cavalry and the King's Tr ...
executive officer and then the squadron maintenance officer. Pompeo left the U.S. Army at the rank of captain. In 1994, Pompeo earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was an editor of the '' Harvard Law Review'' and the ''
Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy The ''Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy'' is a law review for conservative and libertarian legal scholarship. It was established by Harvard Law School students Spencer Abraham and Stephen Eberhard in 1978, leading to the founding of the F ...
''.


Early career

After graduating from law school, he worked as a lawyer for Williams & Connolly in Washington. In 1996, Pompeo moved to
Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...
, where he and three West Point friends, Brian Bulatao, Ulrich Brechbuhl, and Michael Stradinger, acquired three aircraft-part manufacturers there (Aero Machine, Precision Profiling, B&B Machine) and in St. Louis (Advance Tool & Die), renaming the entity Thayer Aerospace after West Point superintendent
Sylvanus Thayer Colonel and Brevet Brigadier General Sylvanus Thayer (June 9, 1785 – September 7, 1872) also known as "the Father of West Point" was an early superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point and an early advocate of engineeri ...
. Venture funding for the private organization included a nearly 20% investment from
Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the ...
as well as Dallas-based Cardinal Investment, and
Bain & Company Bain & Company is an American management consulting company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. The firm provides advice to public, private, and non-profit organizations. One of the Big Three management consultancies, Bain & Company was fou ...
(Brechbuhl worked for Bain at the time). Brechbuhl and Stradinger left the company shortly after it was founded, but Pompeo and Bulatao continued. In 2006, he sold his interest in the company, which by then had been renamed Nex-Tech Aerospace, to Highland Capital Management, which had clients including Lockheed Martin,
Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an American aircraft company and a wholly owned subsidiary of General Dynamics. Gulfstream designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and services business jet aircraft. Gulfstream has produced more than 2,000 ...
,
Cessna Aircraft Cessna () is an American brand of general aviation aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of the Cessna Aircraft Company, an American general aviation aircraft manufacturing ...
,
Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...
,
Spirit AeroSystems Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc., based in Wichita, Kansas, is the world's largest first-tier aerostructures manufacturer. The company builds several important pieces of Boeing aircraft, including the fuselage of the 737, portions of the 787 fu ...
and Raytheon Aircraft. Pompeo then became president of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturer that was also a partner of
Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the ...
. In 2017, when Pompeo became head of the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
, he named his former business partner, Brian Bulatao, the agency's
chief operating officer A chief operating officer or chief operations officer, also called a COO, is one of the highest-ranking executive positions in an organization, composing part of the " C-suite". The COO is usually the second-in-command at the firm, especially if ...
.


U.S. House of Representatives (2011–2017)


Elections

Pompeo represented
Kansas's 4th congressional district Kansas's 4th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of Kansas. Based in the south central part of the state, the district encompasses the city of Wichita, the largest city in Kansas, three universities, Arkansas Ci ...
from 2011 until his January 2017 appointment to director of the
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...
(CIA). In the 2010 election, Pompeo won the Republican primary for Kansas's 4th District congressional seat with 39% of the vote, defeating state senator Jean Schodorf (who received 24%) and two other candidates. Late in the primary, Schodorf began to surge in the polls, prompting two outside groups—Common Sense Issues and
Americans for Prosperity Americans for Prosperity (AFP), founded in 2004, is a libertarian conservative political advocacy group in the United States funded by Charles Koch and formerly his brother David. As the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group, it is one ...
—to spend tens of thousands of dollars in the campaign's final days to attack Schodorf and support Pompeo. In the general election, Pompeo defeated Democratic nominee
Raj Goyle Rajeev Kumar Goyle (born June 9, 1975) is a Democratic politician from Kansas, who represented the 87th District in the Kansas House of Representatives from 2007 to 2011. He was the 2010 Democratic nominee for . Early life, education and caree ...
, a member of the
Kansas House of Representatives The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafti ...
. Pompeo received 59% of the vote (117,171 votes) to 36% for Goyle (71,866). During Pompeo's campaign, its affiliated
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
account praised as a "good read" a news article that called Goyle, his
Indian-American Indian Americans or Indo-Americans are citizens of the United States with ancestry from India. The United States Census Bureau uses the term Asian Indian to avoid confusion with Native Americans, who have also historically been referred to ...
opponent, a "turban topper" who "could be a muslim, a hindu, a buddhist etc. who knows". Pompeo later apologized to Goyle for the tweet. Pompeo received $80,000 in donations during the campaign from
Koch Industries Koch Industries, Inc. ( ) is an American privately held multinational conglomerate corporation based in Wichita, Kansas and is the second-largest privately held company in the United States, after Cargill. Its subsidiaries are involved in the ...
and its employees. In the
2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...
, Pompeo defeated Democratic nominee Robert Tillman by a margin of 62–32%. Koch Industries gave Pompeo's campaign $110,000. In the 2014 election, Pompeo won the general election with 67% of the vote, defeating Democrat Perry Schuckman. In the 2016 election, Pompeo beat Democrat Daniel B. Giroux in the general election with 61% of the vote.


Tenure in Congress

Pompeo served on the
United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a United States congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by ...
, the
United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce The Committee on Energy and Commerce is one of the oldest standing committees of the United States House of Representatives. Established in 1795, it has operated continuously—with various name changes and jurisdictional changes—for more tha ...
, the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, the
United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy The Subcommittee on Energy and Power is a subcommittee within the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce. It was formed during the 112th Congress The 112th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the Unit ...
, the
United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on the CIA The House Intelligence Subcommittee on Intelligence Modernization and Readiness is one of the four subcommittees within the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), ...
, and the
United States House Select Committee on Benghazi The United States House Select Committee on Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi was created after Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner, on May 2, 2014, proposed that a House select committee woul ...
. Pompeo was a member of the
Congressional Constitution Caucus The Congressional Constitution Caucus is a congressional caucus made up of 41 members of the United States Congress. The caucus was founded in 2005; it had 37 members the first year it was founded. The group was founded and formerly led by Repu ...
. Pompeo was original sponsor of the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015.


CIA Director (2017–2018)

On November 18, 2016, President-elect
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
announced that he would nominate Pompeo to be the
director of the Central Intelligence Agency The director of the Central Intelligence Agency (D/CIA) is a statutory office () that functions as the head of the Central Intelligence Agency, which in turn is a part of the United States Intelligence Community. Beginning February 2017, the ...
. He was confirmed by the Senate on January 23, 2017, with a vote of 66–32, and sworn in later that day. In his confirmation he failed to disclose the links between his company in Kansas and a Chinese government owned firm. In February 2017, Pompeo traveled to
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
and
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
. He met with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss policy on Syria and
ISIL An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
. Pompeo honored the then-
crown prince of Saudi Arabia The crown prince of Saudi Arabia is the second-most important position in Saudi Arabia, second to the King, and is his designated successor. Currently, the Crown Prince assumes power with the approval of the Allegiance Council after he is nomi ...
Muhammad bin Nayef Muhammad bin Nayef Al Saud ( ar, محمد بن نايف آل سعود, translit=Muḥammad bin Nāyif Āl Su‘ūd; born 30 August 1959), colloquially known by his initials MBN or MbN, is a former Saudi Arabian politician and businessman who serv ...
with the CIA's " George Tenet" Medal. It was the first reaffirmation of
Saudi Arabia–United States relations Bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States began in 1933 when full diplomatic relations were established and became formalized in the 1951 Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement. Despite the differences between the two countri ...
since Trump took office in January 2017. In March 2017, Pompeo formally invoked state secrets privilege to prevent CIA officers, including
Gina Haspel Gina Cheri Walker Haspel (born October 1, 1956) formerly an American intelligence officer, was director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2018 to 2021. The first woman to hold the post on a permanent basis, she had previously worked a ...
and James Cotsana, from being compelled to testify in the trial of Bruce Jessen and James Elmer Mitchell. In June 2017, Pompeo named Michael D'Andrea head of the CIA's Iran mission center. In August 2017, Pompeo took direct command of the Counterintelligence Mission Center, the department which helped to launch an investigation into possible links between Trump associates and Russian officials. Former CIA officials, including John Sipher, expressed concern given Pompeo's proximity to the White House and Donald Trump. In September 2017, Pompeo sought authority for the CIA to make covert drone strikes without the Pentagon's involvement, including inside Afghanistan. During
Easter weekend Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, wh ...
2018, Pompeo visited North Korea and met with Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the upcoming
2018 North Korea–United States summit Eighteen or 18 may refer to: * 18 (number), the natural number following 17 and preceding 19 * one of the years 18 BC, AD 18, 1918, 2018 Film, television and entertainment * ''18'' (film), a 1993 Taiwanese experimental film based on the sho ...
between Kim and Trump. Pompeo usually personally delivered the
president's daily brief The President's Daily Brief (PDB), sometimes referred to as the President's Daily Briefing or the President's Daily Bulletin, is a top-secret document produced and given each morning to the president of the United States; it is also distribute ...
in the Oval Office. At Trump's request, Pompeo met with former NSA official William E. Binney to discuss his doubts of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections. At the suggestion of Tony Perkins, president of the
Family Research Council The Family Research Council (FRC) is an American evangelical activist group and think-tank with an affiliated lobbying organization. FRC promotes what it considers to be family values. It opposes and lobbies against: access to pornography, emb ...
, Pompeo planned to hire chaplains at the CIA.


U.S. Secretary of State (2018–2021)


Nomination and confirmation

President Trump announced on March 13, 2018, that he would nominate Pompeo to serve as secretary of state, succeeding
Rex Tillerson Rex Wayne Tillerson (born March 23, 1952) is an American engineer and energy executive who served as the 69th U.S. secretary of state from February 1, 2017, to March 31, 2018, under President Donald Trump. Prior to joining the Trump administ ...
, who stepped down on March 31, 2018. On April 23, the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid p ...
voted 11–9 in favor of sending Pompeo's nomination to the full Senate, with Senator
Chris Coons Christopher Andrew Coons (born September 9, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Delaware since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Coons served as the county executive of New Castle C ...
voting "present" and
Johnny Isakson John Hardy Isakson (December 28, 1944 – December 19, 2021) was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Georgia from 2005 to 2019 as a member of the Republican Party. He represented in the United States ...
, who was absent that day, voting "yes by proxy". In the interest of saving the committee's time, Coons decided to vote "present", as the vote would have been tied if he had voted no on the nomination with Isakson absent, a situation that would have nullified his vote. The Senate floor vote took place on April 26 and Pompeo was confirmed by the full Senate by a 57–42 vote, with five of ten Democratic senators running for reelection in
2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...
in states that Trump won in
2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
, voting to confirm Pompeo. Pompeo was sworn in on April 26, 2018. In testimony before the senate, he promised to prioritize improving the low-morale issue at the State Department.


Tenure as Secretary of State

During his tenure as Secretary of State, Pompeo was described as among the staunchest Trump loyalists in the Cabinet. During his tenure, he routinely flouted norms followed by his predecessors. These included a speech via satellite from Jerusalem supporting Trump's re-election, firing State Department Inspector General
Steve Linick Steven Alan Linick ( ) (born 1963) is an American attorney and State Department official who served as Inspector General of the Department of State and led the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State. In 2013, he was nominated ...
, and standing on the sidelines while Trump and his allies conducted a smear campaign against career diplomat
Marie Yovanovitch Marie Louise "Masha" Yovanovitch (born November 11, 1958) is a Canadian-American former diplomat and retired senior member of the United States Foreign Service. She served in multiple State Department posts, including Senior Advisor to the Unde ...
. Under Pompeo's tenure, career State Department officials quit, were forced into retirement or fired, and were replaced by inexperienced political appointees. Like Trump, Pompeo praised dictators and criticized the U.S.'s traditional democratic allies. International relations scholars
Daniel Drezner Daniel W. Drezner (born August 23, 1968) is an American political scientist. He is professor of international politics at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He is known for his scholarship and commentary on International ...
, Richard Sokolsky, and
Aaron David Miller Aaron David Miller is an American Middle East analyst, author, and negotiator. He is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, focusing on U.S. foreign policy. He previously was vice president for new initiatives at the W ...
described Pompeo as the worst secretary of state in American history, citing numerous foreign policy failures, fealty to Trump at the cost of U.S. national interest, and improprieties in office. Pompeo played a role in Trump's three summits with North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un. The summits failed to achieve any reduction in North Korea's nuclear arsenal.Laura Kelly
Pompeo 'regrets' not making more progress with North Korea
''The Hill'' (April 1, 2021).
In a 2021 interview with a conservative podcast, Pompeo said that "I regret that we didn't make more progress" on North Korea. In August 2018, Pompeo thanked Crown Prince
Mohammad bin Salman Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud ( ar, محمد بن سلمان آل سعود, translit=Muḥammad bin Salmān Āl Su‘ūd; born 31 August 1985), colloquially known by his initials MBS or MbS, is Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. H ...
"for Saudi Arabia's support for northeast Syria's urgent stabilization needs". Pompeo and Crown Prince also discussed the situation in war-torn
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
. Pompeo condemned the military crackdown by the
Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army ( my, တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း), ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, Armed Forces (''Tatmadaw'') of Myanmar (Burma) and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The My ...
and police on
Rohingya Muslims The Rohingya people () are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar (previously known as Burma). Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an ...
. In July 2018, Pompeo raised the issue of
Xinjiang internment camps The Xinjiang internment camps, officially called vocational education and training centers ( zh, 职业技能教育培训中心, Zhíyè jìnéng jiàoyù péixùn zhōngxīn) by the government of China, are internment camps operated b ...
and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Pompeo criticized
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his refusal to condemn the Chinese government's repressions against the Uyghurs. On October 10, 2018, Pompeo said
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
"is everything we want the entire Middle East to look like going forward" and that the Israel–United States relations are "stronger than ever". In March 2019, when questioned regarding Israel's conflicts with Iran and following a visit to the Western Wall with Israeli prime minister
Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...
, Pompeo spoke to "the work that our administration's done to make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish state, remains... I am confident that the Lord is at work here." On November 16, 2018, a CIA assessment was leaked to the media that concluded with "high confidence" Saudi Arabia's crown prince
Mohammad bin Salman Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud ( ar, محمد بن سلمان آل سعود, translit=Muḥammad bin Salmān Āl Su‘ūd; born 31 August 1985), colloquially known by his initials MBS or MbS, is Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. H ...
ordered the October 2, 2018, assassination of ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large na ...
'' columnist
Jamal Khashoggi Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi (; ar, جمال أحمد خاشقجي, Jamāl ʾAḥmad Ḵāšuqjī, ; 13 October 1958 – 2 October 2018) was a Saudi journalist, dissident, author, columnist for ''Middle East Eye'' and ''The Washington Post'', and a ge ...
. Under mounting pressure from lawmakers who wanted action against Saudi Arabia, Pompeo disputed the CIA's conclusion and declared there was no direct evidence linking the Crown Prince to the Khashoggi's assassination. On January 7, 2019, Pompeo began a diplomatic tour of the Middle East to assure regional U.S. partners that, amid the sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, the U.S. mission to degrade and destroy the
Islamic State An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
and to counter Iranian influence in the region had not changed. The trip included stops in
Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...
,
Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...
,
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medit ...
, and the Gulf nations. Pompeo announced on January 23, 2019, that
Juan Guaidó Juan Gerardo Guaidó Márquez (born 28 July 1983) is a Venezuelan politician, a former member of the social-democratic Popular Will party, and federal deputy to the National Assembly representing the state of Vargas. On 23 January 2019, Guaid ...
would be recognized by the U.S. as the legitimate interim president of Venezuela, and that American diplomats in Caracas would remain at their posts, even as Nicolás Maduro gave them three days to evacuate the country upon Guaidó assumption of the presidency. After protests for over "homophobic, racist and misogynist remarks" by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a ceremony hosted by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce (originally set to honor Pompeo and Bolsonaro) was canceled. On May 14, 2019, Pompeo met for three hours with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov (russian: Сергей Викторович Лавров, ; born 21 March 1950) is a Russian diplomat and politician who has served as the Foreign Minister of Russia since 2004. Lavrov served as the Permanent Represe ...
and for ninety minutes with Russian President
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
in Sochi, Russia. According to a Kremlin aide, they discussed Syria, North Korea, Iran, Venezuela, and the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty ( New START); Pompeo said he brought up—and Putin again denied—Russian election interference. In October 2019, the State Department web site promoted a speech by Pompeo "On Being a Christian Leader", which he delivered to the
American Association of Christian Counselors The American Association of Christian Counselors, Inc. (AACC) is the largest organization of Christian counselors in the world.Brian Lang, Bill Wilson, ''A christian parents' guide to making the internet family friendly'', Nashville, Tennessee: Th ...
in his official government role. Pompeo touts Christianity in his speech, describes how he applies his faith to his government work. The promotion of the speech by the State Department was met with criticism from those who believed it was incompatible with
separation of church and state The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
. He also created the Commission on Unalienable Rights, and created a faith-based employee affinity group that includes contractors. Pompeo defended the
2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria The 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, code-named Operation Peace Spring ( tr, Barış Pınarı Harekâtı) by Turkey, was a cross-border military operation conducted by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and the Syrian National Arm ...
, saying
Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
has a "legitimate security concern" with "a terrorist threat to their south". However, Pompeo denied that the United States had given a "green light" for Turkey to attack the
Kurds ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ira ...
. In November 2019, Pompeo said the U.S. no longer views Israeli settlements in the occupied
West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
as a violation of international law, breaking with decades of U.S. policy. In rejecting a claimed double standard in recognizing
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
's annexation of the Golan Heights but placing sanctions on Russia for annexing Crimea in 2014, Pompeo said "What the President did with the Golan Heights is recognize the reality on the ground and the security situation necessary for the protection of the Israeli state." In January 2020, the Trump administration approved a drone strike that assassinated Iranian General
Qasem Soleimani Qasem Soleimani ( fa, قاسم سلیمانی, ; 11 March 19573January 2020) was an Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). From 1998 until his assassination in 2020, he was the commander of the Qu ...
. Pompeo was reportedly among the most hawkish advisors within the administration during the meeting in which Trump decided to assassinate Soleimani. On the day of the strike, Pompeo asserted the attack was ordered by Trump to disrupt an "imminent attack" by Soleimani operatives, although subsequent reports on that rationale were mixed. In January 2020, Pompeo abruptly ended an interview with Mary Louise Kelly of NPR's ''All Things Considered'', and called her to private quarters where he admonished her for asking questions regarding Ukraine during the interview. Pompeo praised Trump-brokered
peace agreement A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice, which is an agreement to stop hostilities; a surrend ...
between
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
as an "enormous" step forward on the "right path". On August 27, 2020, Pompeo, after visiting
Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of ...
i Sultan Haitham bin Tarik Al-Said, concluded a Middle East trip aimed at encouraging Arab countries to follow the UAE's move. According to Hugh Lovatt of the
European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...
, "...the lack of any additional public commitments during Secretary Pompeo's regional tour looks like an anti-climax ndit is possible that a lack of clarity on the U.S. commitment to deliver
F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...
s to the UAE could have also played a part in slowing a second wave of normalisation."


Madison dinners

From the time he took office in April 2018 until spring 2020, Pompeo had hosted about two dozen taxpayer-funded "Madison dinners" at the Diplomatic Reception Rooms in the State Department's headquarters) for hundreds of elite attendees.Nahal Toosi
Pompeo to resume 'Madison Dinners' despite controversy
''Politico'' (September 12, 2020).
The dinners were not mentioned on Pompeo's public schedule. 14% of the invitees were diplomats or foreign officials while approximately 25% were from—mostly conservative—media or the entertainment industry, 29% from the corporate world, and 30% from U.S. politics or government. Every invited congressional member was a Republican. State Department officials and others raised concerns that the dinners did not serve any foreign policy purpose but were intended for Pompeo to cultivate supporters and donors for future political ambitions, especially since detailed contact information for each attendee was sent to Pompeo's wife's personal email address. Pompeo temporarily suspended the "Madison dinners" when the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
hit the U.S., but resumed the dinners at the
Blair House Blair House, also known as The President's Guest House, is an official residence in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. The President's Guest House has been called "the world's most exclusive hotel" because it is primarily used ...
in September 2020, despite the controversy over them and concerns about public health. Records obtained by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) in 2021 through a
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...
(FOIA) lawsuit revealed that the dinners had cost almost $65,000, including more than $10,000 for custom-engraved, Chinese-made pens given as gifts to the attendees. The funds for the dinners were taken from a special appropriation fund for emergencies in the diplomatic service called the K Fund. The Office of the Inspector General told CREW that it had not conducted an audit of K Fund expenditures during Pompeo's tenure.


Inspector General investigations

After Trump fired the State Department Inspector General,
Steve Linick Steven Alan Linick ( ) (born 1963) is an American attorney and State Department official who served as Inspector General of the Department of State and led the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State. In 2013, he was nominated ...
in May 2020, it became known that Linick had begun an investigation into ethics violations by Pompeo and his wife alleged by whistle-blowers. The investigation continued after his firing, and the review report was released in April 2021. The review had found more than 100 instances of misconduct where Pompeo requested that State Department staff perform personal errands for him and his wife, "from booking salon appointments and private dinner reservations to picking up their dog and arranging tours for the Pompeos' political allies." The inspector general concluded that the behavior was inconsistent with regulations and "recommended that various divisions at the State Department, such as the Office of the Legal Adviser, update or draft new guidance that establishes or further clarifies the appropriate use of department funds and staffers when it comes to personal tasks." The Inspector General had also investigated Pompeo's role in the Trump administration's decision to declare an "emergency" to bypass a congressional freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Prior to his firing, Linick had requested an interview with Pompeo, which Pompeo had declined. After Linick's firing, it was also revealed that he was investigating claims that a top Pompeo aide had failed to report allegations of workplace violence. Pompeo denied that he sought to fire Linick in retaliation.


Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump

When asked about his knowledge of the controversial call made by President Trump on July 25, 2019, to Ukraine's President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, ; russian: Владимир Александрович Зеленский, Vladimir Aleksandrovich Zelenskyy, (born 25 January 1978; also transliterated as Zelensky or Zelenskiy) is a Ukrainian politicia ...
, in which Trump solicited assistance in investigating the son of former vice president and presidential candidate Joseph Biden, Pompeo initially said he had little knowledge of Trump's call with Zelenskiy since he had not yet read the transcript of the call. It was later confirmed by officials that he himself had been on the call. Pompeo informed the chairmen of the
House Foreign Affairs Committee The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...
, the
House Intelligence Committee The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Adam Schiff. It is the primary committ ...
, and the
House Oversight Committee The Committee on Oversight and Reform is the main investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. The committee's broad jurisdiction and legislative authority make it one of the most influential and powerful panels in the ...
that their subpoenas for documents regarding Trump's communications with the government of Ukraine "can be understood only as an attempt to 'intimidate, bully, and treat improperly, the distinguished professionals of the Department of State'". The three chairmen stated on October 1, 2019, "Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress—including State Department employees—is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry."
William B. Taylor Jr. William Brockenbrough Taylor Jr. (born September 14, 1947) is an American diplomat, government official, and former military officer. He served as the 6th United States ambassador to Ukraine from 2006 to 2009 under President Bush and Obama, an ...
, acting ambassador to Ukraine and one of several current and former State Department officials appearing before congressional investigators, testified on October 22, 2019, that the White House was withholding military aid to Ukraine to force cooperation on U.S. domestic political issues, that Rudy Giuliani was running a shadow foreign policy effort parallel to official lines in the State Department, that when
John Bolton John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Sta ...
and others fought the "effort to hijack" the U.S. relationship with Ukraine, Pompeo failed to respond directly to complaints, leaving Taylor to conclude that lack of timely, congressionally approved military aid would leave Ukrainians dying at the hands of Russian-led forces. In his public testimony on November 20, 2019, Ambassador to the European Union
Gordon Sondland Gordon David Sondland (born July 16, 1957) is an American businessman. He is the founder and chairman of Provenance Hotels. He also served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 2018 to 2020. In November 2019, Sondland test ...
noted in his opening statement that
United States Secretary of Energy The United States secretary of energy is the head of the United States Department of Energy, a member of the Cabinet of the United States, and fifteenth in the presidential line of succession. The position was created on October 1, 1977, when Pr ...
Rick Perry, then- U.S. Ambassador to NATO
Kurt Volker Kurt Douglas Volker (born December 27, 1964) is an American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to NATO and served as executive director of the McCain Institute for International Leadership. He worked in a volunteer capacity as the U.S. ...
and Sondland himself stayed in touch with Rudy Giuliani regarding the President's expectation that a public statement should be made by President Zelensky committing Ukraine to look into corruption issues, and that Giuliani "specifically mentioned the 2016 election (including the DNC server) and Burisma as two topics of importance to the President". Sondland said they kept the leadership of the NSC and State Department, including Pompeo, informed about their activities, and that as late as September 24, Pompeo was still telling Volker to talk with Giuliani. An October 23, 2019,
Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...
(FOIA) request by the liberal watchdog group American Oversight persuaded a federal judge to give the State Department 30 days to release Ukraine-related records, including communications between Pompeo and President Trump's personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani. On November 22, the State Department released internal emails and documents bolstering Sondland's congressional testimony that Pompeo had participated in Giuliani's activities relating to Ukraine. Pompeo and Giuliani exchanged emails and phone calls in late March 2019, before Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was recalled from Ukraine. The documents also showed that the State Department had deliberately deceived Congress about the rationale for Marie Yovanovitch's removal as Ambassador to Ukraine. Giuliani later admitted he had spoken to Pompeo on the phone in late March 2019 "to relay information he had gathered during his Ukrainian research". Upon Pompeo's request, he then provided him memos of his interviews of two former Ukrainian prosecutors. Giuliani said he later heard that the details of the memos were passed on to the State Department Inspector General (IG) and the F.B.I. for investigation. On November 26, 2019, Pompeo appeared to grant legitimacy to a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, rather than or in addition to Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 United States elections. He had been asked by a reporter "Do you believe that the U.S. and Ukraine should investigate the theory that it was Ukraine and not Russia that hacked the DNC emails in 2016?" Pompeo responded "Any time there is information that indicates any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down," adding "to protect our elections, America should leave no stone unturned."


COVID-19 pandemic

Pompeo said the U.S. government is trying to determine if the COVID-19 virus emanated from the
Wuhan Institute of Virology The Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (WIV; ) is a research institute on virology administered by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), which reports to the State Council of the People's Republic of China. The institute ...
. On April 23, 2020, Pompeo claimed that China had denied U.S. scientists permission to enter the country, in an effort to ascertain the origin of the current pandemic. He did not give details of any requests for such visits. On May 13, 2020, Pompeo made a swift visit to Israel for his first trip overseas since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. During a spike in case and death numbers in the pandemic, Pompeo hosted large indoor holiday parties involving hundreds of guests, as well as alcohol and food. The parties violated public health guidance and were described as superspreader events. They also violated Washington D.C.'s restrictions on sizable indoor gatherings. At the same time, the State Department was advising its employees not to have in-person gatherings. Photos from the event showed attendees not wearing masks consistently. In mid-December 2020, hundreds of invitees rejected invitations to go to one of Pompeo's parties. A day later, Pompeo cancelled the final holiday party after he had come in contact with a COVID-19 positive individual.


2019 emergency arms sale

In May 2019, Pompeo announced an "emergency" to push through $8.1billion of arms sales to
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...
and the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia ( The Middle East). It is located at t ...
, citing Iranian activity in the
Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...
. This led to widespread Congressional opposition and eventually a probe by former State Department inspector general
Steve Linick Steven Alan Linick ( ) (born 1963) is an American attorney and State Department official who served as Inspector General of the Department of State and led the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State. In 2013, he was nominated ...
, who was fired by the Trump administration on Pompeo's recommendation. On August 10, 2020, the
US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
reported that Pompeo took proper procedures in declaring the "emergency". However, the statement issued by the department failed to fully assess the humanitarian impact of selling the weapons to the two Gulf countries, which had been using American bombs to wage a devastating war in
Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, killing thousands of civilians.


Republican National Convention speech

On August 25, 2020, Pompeo recorded a speech during an official diplomatic visit to
Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
, during the Republican National Convention, in support of the incumbent and Republican presidential nominee
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
. Following the speech, the
House Foreign Affairs Committee The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...
's Oversight Subcommittee announced an investigation into whether the speech constituted a violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts executive branch civil service employees from participating in certain forms of political activity. In response, a spokesperson for the State Department said the department was not bearing any of the costs of the speech and that Pompeo was conducting the speech in his "personal capacity"; the Oversight Subcommittee Chairman, Joaquin Castro, said the speech was "highly unusual and likely unprecedented" and "it appears that it may also be illegal." On August 28,
Eliot Engel Eliot Lance Engel (; born February 18, 1947) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district covering portions of the north Bronx and s ...
, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee announced that the committee would be drafting a resolution holding Pompeo in
contempt Contempt is a pattern of attitudes and behaviour, often towards an individual or a group, but sometimes towards an ideology, which has the characteristics of disgust and anger. The word originated in 1393 in Old French contempt, contemps, ...
, saying "he has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the constitution provides to prevent government corruption." It was confirmed on October 26 that the Office of the Special Counsel had launched a probe into Pompeo's speech.


Afghanistan and the Taliban

Pompeo was involved in negotiations with the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
that set the stage for a U.S. departure from Afghanistan. In early 2020, Pompeo touted the Trump administration’s agreement with the Taliban that put the U.S. on a trajectory to leave Afghanistan by May 2021. The deal required the Afghan government to release 5,000 imprisoned Taliban members. By August 2020, the Afghan government released all but 400 of the prisoners, as these prisoners had been accused of committing major crimes, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Pompeo urged the Afghan government to release the remaining prisoners to remove "the last obstacle to the start of intra-Afghan negotiations". Within three days, the Afghan president agreed to the release, which was completed the next month. Later, the Joe Biden administration extended the withdrawal timeline to August 2021, and Pompeo expressed support for it. However, after the U.S. had left Afghanistan, the Ashraf Ghani government rapidly collapsed and the Taliban regained substantial territory, Pompeo distanced himself and the Trump administration from the situation facing Afghanistan post-withdrawal.


Final days in office

After Joe Biden won the 2020 United States presidential election and Trump refused to concede while making false claims of fraud, Pompeo, when asked whether there would be a "smooth transition" to the Biden administration, responded on November 10, 2020: "There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration, all right. We're ready. The world is watching what's taking place here. We're gonna count all the votes. When the process is complete, they'll be electors selected." The day after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to prevent the counting of the electoral votes (thus formalizing the upcoming presidency of Biden), the State Department told diplomats to affirm Biden's victory. On January 8, Pompeo met with Biden's incoming Secretary of State
Antony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American government official and diplomat serving as the 71st United States secretary of state since January 26, 2021. He previously served as deputy national security advisor from 2013 to 2015 a ...
. While other Trump Cabinet members resigned or took a low profile after the attack on the Capitol, in which Trump's role was debated, Pompeo remained a vocal defender of Trump, sending a Twitter message that promoted him as a potential
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Chemistry, Physics, Physiolog ...
nominee. He urged followers of the State Department's Twitter account to follow his personal account; criticized the news media, and complained about purported "censorship" of conservatives on social media websites. On January 12, 2021, Pompeo cancelled a planned European trip when European diplomats declined to meet with him. Pompeo made a large number of foreign policy decisions in the last weeks of the Trump administration leading up the
inauguration of Joe Biden The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, marking the start of the four-year term of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president. The 59th presidential ...
, including many likely to be reversed under Biden. Pompeo ordered the re-designation of Cuba as a "
state sponsor of terrorism State-sponsored terrorism is terrorist violence carried out with the active support of national governments provided to violent non-state actors. States can sponsor terrorist groups in several ways, including but not limited to funding terroris ...
" and designating the
Houthi The Houthi movement (; ar, ٱلْحُوثِيُّون ''al-Ḥūthīyūn'' ), officially called Ansar Allah (' ''Partisans of God'' or ''Supporters of God'') and colloquially simply Houthis, is an Islamist political and armed movement that ...
rebels as a "
foreign terrorist organization Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) is a designation for non-United States-based organizations deemed by the United States Secretary of State, in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA), to be involved ...
." The latter decision had a chilling effect on humanitarian aid to Yemeni people, and it was quickly reversed by the
Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory ...
. On January 19, 2021, Pompeo announced that the Department of State had determined that "
genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Lat ...
and crimes against humanity" had been perpetrated by China against the Uyghur
Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
and other ethnic minorities in
Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
. The announcement was made on the last day of the
presidency of Donald Trump Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...
. On January 20, 2021, Pompeo along with other Trump administration officials were sanctioned by China. These individuals and their immediate family members were banned from entering mainland China,
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and
Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...
, and have also been restricted from doing business with China either individually or through their companies and institutions. President Biden's National Security Council called the sanctions "unproductive and cynical."


Potential 2020 U.S. Senate bid

Following an announcement that U.S. Senator
Pat Roberts Charles Patrick Roberts (born April 20, 1936) is a retired American politician and journalist who served as a United States senator from Kansas from 1997 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, Roberts served 8 terms in the U.S. House of Rep ...
, a four-term Republican, would not seek re-election in 2020, there was speculation that Pompeo would run for U.S. Senate from Kansas. He still had almost one million dollars in his congressional campaign account as of June 2019, which could be used in a Senate bid. In March 2019, Pompeo said he had ruled out a 2020 Senate run although he implied an openness to seeking statewide office in the future. In July 2019, Pompeo "appeared to re-open the door to a Kansas Senate run, telling a Kansas City radio station that he will 'always leave open the possibility that something will change'." Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has expressed a desire for Pompeo to enter the race. On July 29, Pompeo indicated that a 2020 Senate run was "off the table". Nevertheless, speculation continued to swirl in August 2019 regarding a potential Senate run. The speculation was driven by concern that Kris Kobach, who lost the 2018 Kansas gubernatorial race, could become the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate if Pompeo does not run. Specifically, some Republicans feared Kobach would "again tap a conservative base, emerge from a crowded primary, alienate moderate voters and lose an otherwise safe seat that Republicans likely need to maintain their narrow Senate majority". Several other Republican candidates, including state Senate President Susan Wagle, Congressman Roger Marshall, and former Trump, Pompeo, and Koch network staffer Alan Cobb, the CEO and President of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce in 2019, have said they would step aside if Pompeo entered the race. On October 29, 2019,
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
Sen. Bob Menendez filed a complaint about Pompeo's repeated trips to Kansas, calling for review of whether Pompeo was engaging in political activity while traveling in an official capacity on taxpayer funds and thereby violating the
Hatch Act of 1939 The Hatch Act of 1939, An Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities, is a United States federal law. Its main provision prohibits civil service employees in the executive branch of the federal government, except the president and vice presi ...
. Menendez's complaint referenced a Wall Street Journal article saying that during his visit to Kansas, Pompeo met with GOP donor
Charles Koch Charles de Ganahl Koch ( ; born November 1, 1935) is an American billionaire businessman. As of November 2022, he was ranked as the 13th richest person in the world on ''Bloomberg Billionaires Index'', with an estimated net worth of $66 billio ...
to discuss the Kansas senate race. In an interview on November 22, 2019, Trump discussed Pompeo's interest in running for Senate from Kansas. Trump said that, in their discussion, Pompeo explained he would prefer to stay in his job as Secretary of State and would run only if it were necessary to keep a Republican seat in the Senate. Efforts to recruit him into the race continued through the June 1 filing deadline, but he ultimately did not file. The general election was won by Republican U.S. Representative Roger Marshall.


Political positions


Foreign policy

In 2013, Pompeo supported the surveillance programs of the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collect ...
, referring to the agency's efforts as "good and important work". In 2016 Pompeo stated, "Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. Legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed. That includes Presidential Policy Directive-28, which bestows privacy rights on foreigners and imposes burdensome requirements to justify data collection." In March 2017,
WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
began publishing a series of documents known as
Vault 7 Vault 7 is a series of documents that WikiLeaks began to publish on 7 March 2017, detailing the activities and capabilities of the United States Central Intelligence Agency to perform electronic surveillance and cyber warfare. The files, dating fr ...
, detailing the CIA's electronic surveillance and cyber warfare activities and capabilities. In an April 2017 speech addressing the
Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. CSIS was founded as the Center for Strategic and International Studies of Georgetown University in 1962. The center conducts polic ...
, Pompeo called WikiLeaks "a non-state hostile intelligence service" and described Assange as a "narcissist" and "a fraud—a coward hiding behind a screen". In a 2013 speech on the House floor, Pompeo said Muslim leaders who fail to denounce acts of
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
done in the name of Islam are "potentially complicit" in the attacks. The
Council on American–Islamic Relations The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. It is headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., with regional offices nationwide. Through civil rights actions, media relations, civic enga ...
called on him to revise his remarks, calling them "false and irresponsible". In 2016, ACT! for America gave Pompeo a "national security eagle award" for his comments on Islam. Pompeo has been a frequent guest on anti-Muslim activist Frank Gaffney's radio show for the
Center for Security Policy The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a US far-right, anti-Muslim, Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The organization's founder and current president is Frank Gaffney Jr. who is known for promoting falsehoods about former U.S. President B ...
. As a congressman, he cosponsored legislation to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the
United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) is a designation for non-United States-based organizations deemed by the United States Secretary of State, in accordance with section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (INA), to be involved ...
. Pompeo opposed closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp. After a 2013 visit to the
prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...
, he said, of the
prisoner A prisoner (also known as an inmate or detainee) is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement, captivity, or forcible restraint. The term applies particularly to serving a prison sentence in a prison. ...
s who were on
hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
, "It looked to me like a lot of them had put on weight." He criticized the Obama administration's decision to end secret prisons and its requirement that all interrogators adhere to anti-
torture Torture is the deliberate infliction of severe pain or suffering on a person for reasons such as punishment, extracting a confession, interrogational torture, interrogation for information, or intimidating third parties. definitions of tortur ...
laws. In March 2014, he denounced the inclusion of a telecast by Edward Snowden at the South by Southwest conference in
Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
, and asked that it be cancelled, predicting it would encourage "lawless behavior" among attendees. In February 2016, Pompeo said Snowden "should be brought back from Russia and given due process, and I think the proper outcome would be that he would be given a death sentence." But he has spoken in favor of reforming the
Federal Records Act The Federal Records Act of 1950 is a United States federal law that was enacted in 1950. It provides the legal framework for federal records management, including record creation, maintenance, and disposition.Richard J. Cox, ''Closing an Era: Histo ...
, one of the laws under which Snowden was charged, saying, "I'm not sure there's a whole lot of change that needs to happen to the
Espionage Act The Espionage Act of 1917 is a United States federal law enacted on June 15, 1917, shortly after the United States entered World War I. It has been amended numerous times over the years. It was originally found in Title 50 of the U.S. Code (War ...
. The Federal Records Act clearly needs updating to reflect the different ways information is communicated and stored. Given the move in technology and communication methods, I think it's probably due for an update." On July 21, 2015, Pompeo and Senator
Tom Cotton Thomas Bryant Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician, attorney, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator for Arkansas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the U.S. House of ...
alleged the existence of secret side agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on procedures for inspection and verification of Iran's nuclear activities under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Obama administration officials acknowledged the existence of agreements between Iran and the IAEA governing the inspection of sensitive military sites but denied that they were "secret side deals", calling them standard practice in crafting arms-control pacts and saying the administration had provided information about them to Congress. In November 2015, Pompeo visited
Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and said, "Prime Minister enjaminNetanyahu is a true partner of the American people." He supported Trump's 2017 decision to move America's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. In 2017, Pompeo worked to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Iran (which had been negotiated by the Obama administration) saying, "I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism." He also said a better option than negotiating with Iran would be to use "under 2,000 sorties to destroy the Iranian nuclear capacity. This is not an insurmountable task for the coalition forces." In 2017, it was reported that Pompeo had expressed desire for regime change in
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...
. In July 2017, he said "It would be a great thing to denuclearize the peninsula, to get those weapons off of that, but the thing that is most dangerous about it is the character who holds the control over them today." In September 2018, Pompeo "backed continued U.S. military support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen over the objections of staff members after being warned that a cutoff could jeopardize $2billion in weapons sales to America's Gulf allies, according to a classified memo and people familiar with the decision". In November 2018, Pompeo blamed
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, saying, "Iran causes death and destruction inside of Yemen and does nothing to prevent the starvation," while Saudi Arabia has "provided millions and millions of dollars of humanitarian relief" for Yemen.


China

During his tenure as Secretary of State, Pompeo was an outspoken critic of China. Pompeo suggested that Chinese investment in Israel would create issues between the U.S. and Israel, and threatened to reduce security arrangements between the countries, although he also claimed that he would have no problems with open and transparent investments. He accused the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
of being under control of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
and implicated China as being behind the significant number of deaths in the UK as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. He praised the UK when they started to push back against the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
and its General Secretary
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping ( ; ; ; born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has served as the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and thus as the paramount leader of China, ...
, especially with respect to
Huawei Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. ( ; ) is a Chinese multinational technology corporation headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. It designs, develops, produces and sells telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics and various smar ...
. He also said he preferred a new coalition that did not need to go through established institutions that were set up by the United States, such as the United Nations. He argued that China was a "new tyranny" and it was the duty of "every leader of every nation" to stand up to China. Pompeo has also argued that China's claims and activities in the South China Sea were illegal. In addition he said the Chinese authorities were not allowed to take unilateral action in the area. This is despite the fact that many, such as Walter A. McDougall's ''Promised Land, Crusader State'' (1997),
John Lewis Gaddis John Lewis Gaddis (born 1941) is an American international relations scholar, military historian, and writer. He is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University. He is best known for his work on the Cold War and ...
's ''Surprise, Security, and the American Experience'' (2004), and Bradley F. Podliska's ''Acting Alone'' (2010) believe it is in the United States' own national interests to be allowed unilateral power. Michael Hirson, at
Eurasia Group Eurasia Group is a political risk consultancy founded in 1998 by Ian Bremmer. History Eurasia Group reports on emerging markets including frontier and developed economies, in addition to establishing practices focused on geo-technology and ener ...
, argued that Pompeo was calling for regime change. He called on the Chinese people to betray their government and rise up to change the Chinese Communist Party. On July 23, 2020, Pompeo, during his Communist China and the Free World's Future speech, announced the end of what he called "blind engagement" with the Chinese government. He also criticized Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping as "a true believer in a bankrupt totalitarian ideology". The former assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Daniel Russel, argued that it would have "the opposite effect, in bolstering support in China for Xi Jinping and deepening anger towards the United States". Michael Hirson noted that with the
2020 U.S. presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...
nearing, it was unlikely Chinese policymakers would do anything to change their relationship. In September 2020, Pompeo accused the Chinese government of trying to foment racial unrest in the United States during an address to state lawmakers in Wisconsin. In October 2020, Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, and Pompeo cancelled scheduled meetings with South Korea and Mongolia. However, he still met with allies from Australia, India and Japan, despite there being a risk of infecting his key counterparts, and accused the Chinese Communist Party of "exploitation, corruption and coercion".


Taiwan

Visiting
Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...
in 2022, Pompeo said that the U.S. should recognize
Republic of China (Taiwan) Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
as an independent country.


Russia

During his confirmation hearing, Pompeo said Russia "has reasserted itself aggressively, invading and occupying Ukraine, threatening Europe, and doing nearly nothing to aid in the destruction and defeat of
ISIS Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
". In August 2018, Pompeo called Russia to "immediately release" jailed Ukrainian filmmaker
Oleg Sentsov Oleg (russian: Олег), Oleh ( uk, Олег), or Aleh ( be, Алег) is an East Slavic given name. The name is very common in Russia, Ukraine and Belаrus. It derives from the Old Norse ''Helgi'' ( Helge), meaning "holy", "sacred", or "blesse ...
. In February 2022, right before Russia invaded Ukraine, Pompeo gave an interview in which he praised Russian president
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...
. Russian state television aired the interview. Pompeo's comments reflected comments made by Trump after the invasion praising Putin. The same month during a speech at a
Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC; ) is an annual political conference attended by conservative activists and elected officials from across the United States and beyond. CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union (ACU) ...
Pompeo called Putin a "
Dictator A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...
" over the invasion, though also stated that he has continues to believe that China is a greater national security threat to the United States then Russia. During a speech at the Hudson Institute in June 2022 Pompeo described the Russian Invasion of Ukraine as a "planned genocide" that is designed to create a "new Russian Empire" similar to the
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
with large amounts of energy reserves.


Energy and environment

Speaking about climate change in 2013, Pompeo said: "There are scientists who think lots of different things about climate change. There's some who think we're warming, there's some who think we're cooling, there's some who think that the last 16 years have shown a pretty stable climate environment." He has said, "Federal policy should be about the American family, not worshipping a radical environmental agenda." In 2009 Pompeo signed the No Climate Tax pledge of Americans for Prosperity. He called the Obama administration's environment and climate change plans "damaging" and "radical". In 2012 he called for the permanent elimination of wind power production tax credits, calling them an "enormous government handout". In 2015, Pompeo opposed the regulation of
greenhouse gas emissions by the United States The United States produced 5.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2020, the second largest in the world after greenhouse gas emissions by China and among the countries with the highest greenh ...
and supported eliminating the
United States federal register of greenhouse gas emissions The United States federal register of greenhouse gas emissions is established by the United States Department of Energy under the '' Energy Policy Act'' 1992. It is administered by the Energy Information Administration through the Voluntary Report ...
. As a member of the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, he voted for two resolutions disapproving of the
Clean Power Plan The Clean Power Plan was an Obama administration policy aimed at combating anthropogenic climate change (global warming) that was first proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The final version of the plan was unveil ...
implemented by the
United States Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it ...
during the Obama administration. In May 2019, Pompeo acted against environmental protection at the Arctic Council. He refused to sign on to a joint statement addressing the need for protection of the Arctic region from the threat of rapidly melting ice unless all mentions of climate change were removed from the document. He said, "Climate change is actually good for the Arctic, since melting ice caps are 'opening up new shipping routes' and thus making it more economically viable to expand oil drilling in the region." He described the Paris climate accord, along with the World Health Organisation and Human Rights Council as one of the "three sins".


Health care

Pompeo opposed the
Affordable Care Act The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
(ACA). Pompeo has been criticized for saying he supports funding for certain programs, yet opposing them when they are a part of the ACA. He accused the
World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
of being under control of the
People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. The WHO responded by saying Pompeo's comments were unacceptable and a distraction from dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Dr.
Maria Van Kerkhove Maria DeJoseph Van Kerkhove (born February 20, 1977) is an American infectious disease epidemiologist. With a background in high-threat pathogens, Van Kerkhove specializes in emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and is based in the Healt ...
, an American who was head of the WHO's emerging diseases and
zoonosis A zoonosis (; plural zoonoses) or zoonotic disease is an infectious disease of humans caused by a pathogen (an infectious agent, such as a bacterium, virus, parasite or prion) that has jumped from a non-human (usually a vertebrate) to a human. ...
unit at the time of the pandemic also expressed pride at the WHO for "saving lives". It was argued that the attempt to blame the WHO was a way to draw attention away from the failings of the Trump administration.


Social issues

Pompeo has stated that life begins at conception and believes abortions should be allowed only when necessary to save the life of the mother, with no exceptions for rape. In 2011, he voted for the
No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act () is a bill that was introduced to the 112th Congress of the United States in the House of Representatives by Rep. Chris Smith ( R-New Jersey) and Dan Lipinski ( D-Illinois). The bill's stated purpose is " ...
, which would have banned federal health coverage that includes abortion. On May 31, 2011, he voted for H.R.2059 11-HR2059, which eliminated funding for the
United Nations Population Fund The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), formerly the United Nations Fund for Population Activities, is a UN agency aimed at improving reproductive and maternal health worldwide. Its work includes developing national healthcare strategies a ...
. He opposes
same-sex marriage Same-sex marriage, also known as gay marriage, is the marriage of two people of the same sex or gender. marriage between same-sex couples is legally performed and recognized in 33 countries, with the most recent being Mexico, constituting ...
and sponsored bills to let states prevent same-sex couples from marrying. Pompeo was instrumental in the development of the anti-abortion Geneva Consensus Declaration.


Economy

Pompeo supported the
United States federal government shutdown of 2013 From October 1 to October 17, 2013, the United States federal government entered a shutdown and curtailed most routine operations because neither legislation appropriating funds for fiscal year 2014 nor a continuing resolution for the interim ...
, blaming President Obama. He said he believed the shutdown was necessary to avoid an "American financial collapse 10 years from now".


International Criminal Court

Mike Pompeo has continued a non-cooperative policy towards the
International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...
in
The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...
, enacting sanctions against the ICC's chief prosecutor and other officials in September 2020. Some security experts have suggested Pompeo himself could potentially face charges under the ICC statutes for CIA activities in Afghanistan during his time as director of that agency.


Post-Trump administration

In January 2021, Pompeo joined the Hudson Institute as a distinguished fellow. On January 20, 2021, following the
inauguration of Joe Biden The inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States took place on Wednesday, January 20, 2021, marking the start of the four-year term of Joe Biden as president and Kamala Harris as vice president. The 59th presidential ...
as the 46th President of the United States, China announced that it has imposed sanctions on Pompeo and 28 other Trump administration officials. In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China stated that it had decided to sanction those "who have seriously violated China's sovereignty and who have been mainly responsible for such U.S. moves on China-related issues." The sanctions prohibit these individuals and their immediate family members from entering
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
, and
special administrative regions The special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China are one of the provincial-level administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China directly under the control of its Central People's Government (State Co ...
of
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
and
Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...
. They are also restricted from doing business with China, as are any companies or institutions associated with them. In response, the spokesperson of the
United States National Security Council The United States National Security Council (NSC) is the principal forum used by the President of the United States for consideration of national security, military, and foreign policy matters. Based in the White House, it is part of the Exe ...
Emily Horne criticized the sanctions as an “unproductive and cynical move”. In August 2022 it emerged that Pompeo was the target of an assassination plot by Iran.


Personal life

Pompeo married Leslie Libert in 1986. The couple later divorced. He then married Susan Justice Mostrous in 2000 and formally adopted her son, Nicholas. Pompeo is affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Pompeo served as a local church
deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...
from 2007 to 2009 and taught Sunday school. In 2014, Pompeo told a church group that Christians needed to "know that
Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
as our savior is truly the only solution for our world". In 2015 in a talk at a church, Pompeo said that "politics is a never-ending struggle... until the Rapture." In an interview with
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
in January 2022, Pompeo said he has lost over 90 lb (41 kg) in the prior six months through self-guided exercises and dietary changes. Experts were skeptical of Pompeo's claim that such changes could have produced this weight loss in a man his age, and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' said that Pompeo's history of misleading statements cast further doubt on his claims.


Foreign honors

Mike Pompeo was awarded: * : The Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon *: Doctor Honoris Causa,
University of Tirana The University of Tirana ( sq, Universiteti i Tiranës, abbreviated UT) is a public university located at the central borough of Tirana 10 in Tirana, Albania. It was established as the ''State University of Tirana'' in 1957 through merging of f ...


See also

* Foreign interference in the 2020 United States elections *
List of members of the American Legion This table provides a list of notable members of The American Legion. A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:American Legion, List O ...
*
List of people who have held multiple United States Cabinet-level positions The Cabinet of the United States, which is the principal advisory body to the president of the United States, has had numerous officers serving as heads of multiple different federal executive departments, or other cabinet-level positions, whi ...
* Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2019)


References


External links


State Department archive

@SecPompeo

Secretary of State
biography

biography * *
Maplight Campaign Contributions
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Pompeo, Mike 1963 births 2008 United States presidential electors 21st-century American politicians American politicians of Italian descent American Presbyterians American anti-communists Businesspeople in aviation Christians from Kansas Directors of the Central Intelligence Agency Harvard Law School alumni Hudson Institute Kansas lawyers Living people Military personnel from California Military personnel from Kansas People from Orange, California Politicians from Wichita, Kansas Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kansas Trump administration cabinet members United States Army officers United States Military Academy alumni United States Secretaries of State Williams & Connolly people Recipients of the Order of Brilliant Star