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{{short description|American politician (born 1963)}}{{pp-vandalism|small=yes}}{{Use American English|date = December 2019}}{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2020}}

factoids

| term_start2 = January 3, 2011| term_end2 = January 23, 2017| predecessor2 = Todd Tiahrt| successor2 = Ron Estes| birth_name = Michael Richard Pompeo196330}}| birth_place = Orange, California, U.S.| death_date = | death_place = | residence = Wichita, Kansas, U.S.Republican Party (United States)>Republican

• {{marriage|Leslie Libert|1986|1997|end=divorced{edih}
• {{marriage|Susan Justice Mostrous|2000}}

}}| children = 1United States Military Academy (Bachelor of Science>BS)Harvard University (JD)United Statessize=23px}}United States|size=23px}}FIRST=JOSH WORK=POLITICO ACCESS-DATE=NOVEMBER 30, 2017 ARCHIVE-DATE=JUNE 12, 2018, live, USAO3-2015Captain (United States)>Captain7th Cavalry Regiment>4th Infantry Division}}| signature = Mike Pompeo Signature.svgpos=centerfilename=Mike Pompeo speaks on the restoration of U.S. sanctions against Iran.oggtype=speechUnited States sanctions>U.S. sanctions against IranRecorded August 20, 2020}}}}Michael Richard Pompeo ({{IPAc-en|p|ɒ|m|ˈ|p|eɪ|oʊ}}; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician who served in the administration of Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United States secretary of state from 2018 to 2021. He also served in the United States House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.After graduating from the United States Military Academy in 1986 and his obligatory five-year service as a United States Army officer, Pompeo went on to graduate 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 in 2010, representing {{ushr|KS|4}} until 2017.Once a critic of Donald Trump, whom he called "authoritarian", Pompeo turned into one of his biggest supporters after Trump became the Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election. Trump appointed him director of the CIA in January 2017 and secretary of state in April 2018. Pompeo is a vocal critic of the Chinese Communist Party; he focused U.S.-China relations in opposition to China's policies regarding the oppression of Uyghurs, 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.As secretary of state, Pompeo declared that the U.S.'s human rights policy should prioritize religious liberty and property rights.NEWS, Verma, Pranshu, Pompeo Says Human Rights Policy Must Prioritize Property Rights and Religion,weblink 30 September 2022, The New York Times, 17 July 2020, During his tenure, the U.S. moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,NEWS, Farrell, Stephen, Why is the U.S. moving its embassy to Jerusalem?,weblink 30 September 2022, Reuters, 7 May 2018, and brokered the Abraham Accords, which normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates.NEWS, Holland, Steve, Israel, Sudan agree to normalize ties with U.S. help,weblink 30 September 2022, Reuters, 23 October 2020, He was among the staunchest Trump loyalists in the Cabinet and routinely flouted State Department norms in aid of Trump's objectives, including supporting Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.WEB, Jakes, Lara, Pompeo backs Trump's actions to contest election results, and Biden calls them 'an embarrassment.',weblink The New York Times, 31 January 2023, 10 November 2020, {{TOC limit|4}}

Early life and education

Pompeo was born in Orange, California, the son of Dorothy (born Mercer) and Wayne Pompeo.WEB, Jarlson, Gary, Santa Ana Cadet Wins Top West Point Honor,weblink Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1986, February 18, 2020,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20190116161241weblink">weblink January 16, 2019, live, WEB, Lee, Teresa, Pompeo Visits Mother's Childhood Home,weblink The Wellington Daily News, October 20, 2010, November 18, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20161119060119weblink">weblink November 19, 2016, live, His paternal great-grandparents, Carlo Pompeo and Adelina Tollis were born in Pacentro, Abruzzo, Italy, and emigrated to the United States in 1899 and 1900, respectively.Italy, L'Aquila, Civil Registration, State Archive In 1982, Pompeo graduated from Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley, California, where he played forward on the basketball team.NEWS, Wisckol, Martin, Friend says Mike Pompeo, Trump's CIA nominee from O.C., was 'born smart',weblink Orange County Register, November 18, 2016, January 30, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170130185919weblink">weblink January 30, 2017, live, In 1986, Pompeo graduated first in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he majored in engineering management.WEB,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170111233539weblink">weblink Biography U.S. Congressman Mike Pompeo, January 11, 2017, April 22, 2018, NEWS, Gary, Jarlson, Santa Ana Cadet Wins Top West Point Honor,weblink April 22, 2018, Los Angeles Times, May 31, 1986,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180422005118weblink">weblink April 22, 2018, live, He was a classmate of Brian Bulatao and Ulrich Brechbuhl, who later helped him found Thayer Aerospace.NEWS, Toosi, Nahal, August 20, 2018, Pompeo's inner circle heavy on business, military experience,weblink Politico, Arlington VA, September 27, 2019, From 1986 to 1991, Pompeo served in the U.S. Army as an armor officer with the West Germany-based 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division. He served as a tank platoon leader before becoming a cavalry troop executive officer and then the squadron maintenance officer.WEB,weblink Pompeo among Congress' new military veterans, Holman, Rhonda, November 12, 2010, The Wichita Eagle, dead,weblink October 30, 2019, October 30, 2019, Pompeo left the U.S. Army at the rank of captain.WEB,weblinkweblink Mike Pompeo Mike Pompeo Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, live, January 20, 2021, NARA, National Archives, whitehouse.gov, April 22, 2018, WEB, Timmons, Heather, Yanofsky, David,weblink A lie about Mike Pompeo's Gulf War service started with an anonymous Wikipedia edit, Quartz Media, April 21, 2018, April 22, 2018,weblink April 21, 2018, live, NEWS, Kelly, Mary Louise, For CIA Nominee Mike Pompeo, 'Not A Good Situation To Inherit',weblink NPR, December 14, 2016, April 5, 2018,weblink April 21, 2018, live, 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.WEB,weblink About, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, April 12, 2018, March 24, 2009,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180506050241weblink">weblink May 6, 2018, live, WEB,weblink Redirecting ..., heinonline.org, April 16, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180413043600weblink">weblink April 13, 2018, live, JOURNAL,weblink Editorial Board 107 Harvard Law Review 1993–1994, 1922, Harvard Law Review, 107, March 13, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180314043305weblink">weblink March 14, 2018, live, Alfieri, Anthony V.,

Early career

After graduating from law school, he worked as a lawyer for Williams & Connolly in Washington.NEWS, Lefler, Dion, July 29, 2010, Pompeo hopes varied background gives him edge, The Wichita Eagle,weblink dead, August 4, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20131110181243weblink">weblink November 10, 2013, In 1996, Pompeo moved to Wichita, Kansas, where he and three West Point friends, Brian Bulatao, Ulrich Brechbuhl, and Michael Stradinger, acquired three aircraft-parts 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.NEWS, David, Dinell,weblink Army buddies team to fight on Air Capital business front, Wichita Business Journal, American City Business Journals, Wichita, Kansas, December 13, 1998, March 23, 2018,weblink March 14, 2018, live, WEB,weblink CIA Chief Operating Officer Speaks to Annuitants at Central Intelligence Retiree Association (CIRA) Event—Central Intelligence Agency, www.cia.gov, March 23, 2018,weblink March 14, 2018, dead, WEB,weblink CIA's New "Mayor" Comes From Finance Firm, Not Intelligence World, NBC News, March 23, 2018,weblink March 14, 2018, live, Venture funding for the private organization included a nearly 20% investment from Koch IndustriesNEWS,weblink Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of Trump, Susan, Glasser, The New Yorker, August 19, 2019, August 25, 2019,weblink August 25, 2019, live, as well as Dallas-based Cardinal Investment, and Bain & Company (Brechbuhl worked for Bain at the time).WEB,weblink Ulrich Brechbuhl—Waldorf School of Garden City, March 23, 2018,weblink March 15, 2018, live, 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, Cessna Aircraft, Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems and Raytheon Aircraft.PRESS RELEASE,weblink Highland Capital Management Acquires Nex-Tech Aerospace, March 23, 2018, April 2, 2007,weblink March 14, 2018, live, Pompeo then became president of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment manufacturer that was also a partner of Koch Industries.NEWS,weblink Meet Mike Pompeo: The Congressional Candidate Spawned By The 'Kochtopus', Lee, Fang, Think Progress, September 21, 2010, November 30, 2017,weblink December 1, 2017, live, In 2017, when Pompeo became head of the CIA, he named his former business partner, Brian Bulatao, the agency's chief operating officer.

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

Elections

File:US congressional delegation at HISF 2014.jpg|thumb|U.S. congressional delegation at the Halifax International Security ForumHalifax International Security ForumFile:Mike Pompeo 17904923522.jpg|thumb|Pompeo speaking at the Hudson InstituteHudson InstitutePompeo represented Kansas's 4th congressional district from 2011 until his January 2017 appointment to director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).NEWS, Williams, Jennifer,weblink Mike Pompeo, Trump's pick for CIA director, could take the agency back to its darkest days, Vox (website), Vox, November 21, 2016, May 21, 2020,weblink December 18, 2019, live, In the 2010 election, Pompeo won the Republican primary for Kansas's 4th District congressional seat with 39% of the vote,WEB,weblink Pompeo may not get support of former rivals | the Wichita Eagle, July 9, 2019,weblink July 9, 2019, live, defeating state senator Jean Schodorf (who received 24%) and two other candidates.NEWS, Dion, Lefler, Ron, Sylvester, Pompeo, Goyle to Meet in 4th District race,weblinkweblink" title="archive.today/20130127023450weblink">weblink dead, January 27, 2013, The Wichita Eagle, August 4, 2010, NEWS, Shane, D'Aprile, Pompeo wins GOP primary in Rep. Tiahrt's district,weblink The Hill (newspaper), The Hill, August 4, 2010, August 4, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110629004433weblink">weblink June 29, 2011, live, Late in the primary, Schodorf began to surge in the polls, prompting two outside groups—Common Sense Issues and Americans for Prosperity—to spend tens of thousands of dollars in the campaign's final days to attack Schodorf and support Pompeo.WEB,weblink Pompeo, Goyle to meet in 4th District race, Dion, Lefler, Ron, Sylvester, The Wichita Eagle, August 3, 2010, November 30, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171201030511weblink">weblink December 1, 2017, live, A month before the general election, Pompeo was endorsed by former U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate Bob Dole.NEWS, Kansas Icon Bob Dole Endorses Mike Pompeo,weblinkmedia?subsec=6&id=362, dead, Press Release, October 11, 2010,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20101012142453weblink">weblinkmedia?subsec=6&id=362, October 12, 2010, In the general election, Pompeo defeated Democratic nominee Raj Goyle, a member of the Kansas House of Representatives. Pompeo received 59% of the vote (117,171 votes) to 36% for Goyle (71,866).NEWS,weblink House Results Map, The New York Times, January 6, 2011,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20110208100157weblink">weblink February 8, 2011, live, During Pompeo's campaign, its affiliated Twitter account praised as a "good read" a news article that called Goyle, his Indian-American opponent, a "turban topper" who "could be a muslim, a hindu, a buddhist etc. who knows". Pompeo later apologized to Goyle for the tweet.NEWS, Sam, Stein,weblink Mike Pompeo, GOP Candidate, Apologizes For Tweet Attacking Challenger As An 'Evil' 'Turban Topper', Could-Be Muslim, The Huffington Post, New York City, August 12, 2010, April 25, 2019,weblink March 3, 2019, live, Pompeo received $80,000 in donations during the campaign from Koch Industries and its employees.NEWS,weblink GOP freshman Pompeo turned to Koch for money for business, then politics, Eggen, Dan, The Washington Post, March 20, 2011, September 5, 2017,weblink September 14, 2017, live, In the 2012 election, Pompeo defeated Democratic nominee Robert Tillman by a margin of 62–32%.NEWS,weblink Wichita attorney Dan Giroux announces challenge to Rep. Mike Pompeo, Justin, Wingerter, The Topeka Capital-Journal, October 1, 2015, July 24, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20151007044427weblink">weblink October 7, 2015, live, Koch Industries gave Pompeo's campaign $110,000.MAGAZINE, John, Nichlas,weblink The Koch Brothers Get Their Very Own Secretary of State, The Nation, March 13, 2018, March 15, 2018,weblink March 14, 2018, live, In the 2014 election, Pompeo won the general election with 67% of the vote, defeating Democrat Perry Schuckman.WEB,weblink Kansas Secretary of State 2014 General Election, Secretary of State of Kansas, November 4, 2014, November 28, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20161222043108weblink">weblink December 22, 2016, live, In the 2016 election, Pompeo beat Democrat Daniel B. Giroux in the general election with 61% of the vote.WEB, Official Vote Totals,weblink Secretary of State of Kansas, December 3, 2016,weblink December 2, 2016, live,

Tenure in Congress

Pompeo served on the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy, the United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on the CIA, and the United States House Select Committee on Benghazi.NEWS, Lowry, Bryan,weblink Rep. Mike Pompeo appointed to Benghazi investigation committee, The Wichita Eagle, August 8, 2014, July 24, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160806170751weblink">weblink August 6, 2016, live, Pompeo was a member of the Congressional Constitution Caucus.WEB, Members,weblink Congressional Constitution Caucus, May 8, 2018,weblink June 14, 2018, dead, Pompeo was original sponsor of the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015.WEB,weblink Summary of H.R. 1599 (114th): Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, GovTrack.us,

CIA Director (2017–2018)

File:Mike Pompeo official CIA portrait.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Official portrait of Mike Pompeo as CIA Director ]]File:CJCS Arrives in France 170713-D-PB383-018.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|World War II veterans being honored at Bastille DayBastille DayOn November 18, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Pompeo to be the director of the Central Intelligence Agency.NEWS,weblink Donald Trump appoints Congressman Mike Pompeo as CIA director, Andrew, Buncombe, The Independent, November 18, 2016, January 28, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180316030727weblink">weblink March 16, 2018, live, He was confirmed by the Senate on January 23, 2017, with a vote of 66–32, and sworn in later that day.WEB,weblink On the Nomination (Confirmation Mike Pompeo, of Kansas, to be Director of the Central Intelligence Agency), Senate.gov, January 23, 2017, February 13, 2017,weblink February 11, 2017, live, NEWS,weblink Senate confirms Mike Pompeo as CIA director, Greg, Miller, The Washington Post, January 23, 2017, January 24, 2017,weblink January 25, 2017, live, In his confirmation he failed to disclose the links between his company in Kansas and a Chinese government owned firm.WEB, Pompeo failed to disclose Chinese business connection,weblink In February 2017, Pompeo traveled to Turkey and Saudi Arabia. He met with Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to discuss policy on Syria and ISIL.NEWS,weblink New CIA chief in Ankara on first foreign visit, Agence France-Presse, News24 (website), News24, February 9, 2017, April 16, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170416222429weblink">weblink April 16, 2017, live, Pompeo honored the then-crown prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Nayef with the CIA's "George Tenet" Medal.NEWS,weblink Trump's CIA Director Pompeo, Targeting WikiLeaks, Explicitly Threatens Speech and Press Freedoms, Glenn, Greenwald, The Intercept, April 14, 2017, April 16, 2017,weblink April 16, 2017, live, It was the first reaffirmation of Saudi Arabia–United States relations since Trump took office in January 2017.NEWS,weblink CIA awards Saudi crown prince with medal for counter-terrorism work, Bethan, McKernan, The Independent, February 13, 2017, September 5, 2017,weblink June 24, 2018, live, In March 2017, Pompeo formally invoked state secrets privilege to prevent CIA officers, including Gina Haspel and James Cotsana, from being compelled to testify in the trial of Bruce Jessen and James Elmer Mitchell.NEWS, Risen, James, James Risen, Fink, Sheri, Sheri Fink, Savage, Charlie, Charlie Savage (author), State Secrets Privilege Invoked to Block Testimony in C.I.A. Torture Case,weblink March 15, 2018, The New York Times, March 9, 2017, A20,weblink March 14, 2018, live, In June 2017, Pompeo named Michael D'Andrea head of the CIA's Iran mission center.NEWS, Rosenberg, Matthew, Matthew Rosenberg, Goldman, Adam, Adam Goldman, C.I.A. Names the 'Dark Prince' to Run Iran Operations, Signaling a Tougher Stance,weblink March 15, 2018, The New York Times, June 3, 2017, A1,weblink June 2, 2017, live, In August 2017, Pompeo took direct command of the Counterintelligence Mission Center, the department which helped to launch an investigation into the many suspiciousWEB, Harding, Luke, How Trump walked into Putin's web, The Guardian, November 15, 2017,weblink May 22, 2019, ...the Russians were talking to people associated with Trump. The precise nature of these exchanges has not been made public, but according to sources in the US and the UK, they formed a suspicious pattern., WEB, Harding, Luke, Kirchgaessner, Stephanie, Hopkins, Nick, British spies were first to spot Trump team's links with Russia, The Guardian, April 13, 2017,weblink May 13, 2019, links between Trump associates and Russian officials and spies.NEWS,weblink At CIA, a watchful eye on Mike Pompeo, the president's ardent ally, Greg, Miller, The Washington Post, August 24, 2017, August 25, 2017,weblink August 25, 2017, live, Former CIA officials, including John Sipher, expressed concern given Pompeo's proximity to the White House and Donald Trump.NEWS,weblink 'People have to watch him': The CIA reportedly suspects its director could try to shield Trump from the Russia probe, Veronika, Bondarenko, Business Insider, August 25, 2017, November 30, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171201043249weblink">weblink December 1, 2017, live, In September 2017, Pompeo sought authority for the CIA to make covert drone strikes without the Pentagon's involvement, including inside Afghanistan.NEWS, Schmitt, Eric, Eric P. Schmitt, Rosenberg, Matthew, C.I.A. Wants Authority to Conduct Drone Strikes in Afghanistan for the First Time,weblink March 15, 2018, The New York Times, September 16, 2017, A1,weblink April 11, 2018, live, During Easter weekend 2018, Pompeo visited North Korea and met with Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un to discuss the upcoming 2018 North Korea–United States summit between Kim and Trump.NEWS,weblink CIA Director Pompeo met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over Easter weekend, Harris, Shane, Leonnig, Carol, Jaffe, Greg, Nakamura, David, The Washington Post, April 17, 2018, April 17, 2018,weblink April 18, 2018, live, Pompeo usually personally delivered the president's daily brief in the Oval Office.NEWS, Rosenberg, Matthew, Trump Likes When C.I.A. Chief Gets Political, but Officers Are Wary,weblink March 15, 2018, The New York Times, August 8, 2017, A1,weblink March 15, 2018, live, 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.NEWS, Shane, Scott, Scott Shane, Mike Pompeo, a Hawk Who Pleased the President, Moves From Spying to Diplomacy,weblink March 15, 2018, The New York Times, March 14, 2018, A12,weblink March 14, 2018, live, At the suggestion of Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, Pompeo planned to hire chaplains at the CIA. In an April 2019 speech at Texas A&M University, Pompeo said "I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It was like we had entire training courses . . . it reminds you of the glory of the American experiment."NEWS, O'Connor, Tom, China Responds to Iran Capturing 'U.S. Spies': Remember When Mike Pompeo Said CIA Lies, Cheats and Steals?,weblink August 7, 2023, Newsweek, July 23, 2019,

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, who stepped down on March 31, 2018. File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With New Zealand Foreign Minister Peters.jpg|thumb|Pompeo with New Zealand foreign minister Winston PetersWinston PetersOn April 23, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted 11–9 in favor of sending Pompeo's nomination to the full Senate, with Senator Chris Coons voting "present" and Johnny Isakson, who was absent that day, voting "yes by proxy".NEWS, Fox News, Chad, Pergram, April 24, 2018, Coons' bipartisan gesture during Pompeo panel brings colleague to tears, April 24, 2018,weblinkweblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180424071245weblink">weblink April 24, 2018, live, 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.NEWS, CNN, Mike Pompeo advances out of committee with favorable recommendation, following Paul flipping his vote, April 24, 2018,weblink April 23, 2018, Phil, Mattingly, Lauren, Fox,weblink April 24, 2018, live, 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 in states that Trump won in 2016, voting to confirm Pompeo.NEWS,weblink Karoun, Demirjian, Carol, Morello, April 26, 2018, subscription, Senate confirms Mike Pompeo as Trump's next secretary of state, The Washington Post, en, April 26, 2018, NEWS,weblink subscription, Senate Confirms C.I.A. Chief Mike Pompeo to Be Secretary of State, Harris, Gardiner, April 26, 2018, The New York Times, April 26, 2018, Kaplan, Thomas, en-US, 0362-4331,weblink April 26, 2018, live, Pompeo was sworn in on April 26, 2018.WEB, Apr 26, 2018, Mike Pompeo, confirmed as secretary of state, is now off on his first official trip,weblink CBS News, May 20, 2020,weblink April 27, 2018, live, In testimony before the senate, he promised to prioritize improving the low-morale issue at the State Department.{| class="wikitable sortable"! colspan="3" |Confirmation process!Voting body!Vote date!Vote results| Senate Committee on Foreign Relations| April 12, 201811–9| Full Senate| April 23, 201857–42

Tenure as secretary of state

File:Mike Pompeo and Kim Jong Un (2) (slight crop).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Pompeo with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ]]During his tenure as secretary of state, Pompeo was described as among the staunchest Trump loyalists in the Cabinet.WEB, 2020-12-28, What does the future hold for Michael Pompeo, Trump's most Trumpy Cabinet secretary?,weblink Tracy, Wilkinson, 2021-01-01, Los Angeles Times, en-US, 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, and standing on the sidelines while Trump and his allies conducted a smear campaign against career diplomat Marie Yovanovitch.U.S. diplomat says Giuliani waged campaign of 'lies' against envoy to Ukraine, Reuters, November 7, 2019Pompeo Won't Say Whether He Owes Yovanovitch An Apology. 'I've Done What's Right', Jason Breslow, NPRGiuliani boasts, then backtracks on some details of engineering Yovanovitch ouster, NBC News Under Pompeo's tenure, career State Department officials quit, were forced into retirement or fired, and were replaced by inexperienced political appointees.WEB, 2021-01-19, Five takeaways from Pompeo's Twitter victory lap,weblink 2021-01-19, Los Angeles Times, en-US, Like Trump, Pompeo praised dictators and criticized the U.S.'s traditional democratic allies. International relations scholars Daniel Drezner, Richard Sokolsky, and Aaron David Miller 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.NEWS, Drezner, Daniel, 2020, Who is the worst secretary of state?, The Washington Post,weblink WEB, Sokolsky, Richard, Miller, Aaron David Miller, Pompeo might go down as the worst secretary of state in modern times,weblink 2021-01-05, CNN, October 5, 2019, 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).Nick Wadhams, Pompeo Cites China, North Korea as Trump's Unfinished Business (January 4, 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 "for Saudi Arabia's support for northeast Syria's urgent stabilization needs".NEWS, Pompeo, Saudi crown prince discuss Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen,weblink Reuters, August 13, 2018, August 17, 2018,weblink August 18, 2018, live, Pompeo and Crown Prince also discussed the situation in war-torn Yemen.NEWS, Pompeo, Trump mum on Saudi-led airstrike that hit Yemen school bus,weblink CNN, August 13, 2018, August 17, 2018,weblink August 18, 2018, live, File:Secretary Pompeo Speaks with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (27909467908).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Pompeo with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuBenjamin NetanyahuPompeo condemned the military crackdown by the Myanmar Army and police on Rohingya Muslims.NEWS, Leaked Pompeo statement shows debate over 'genocide' label for Myanmar,weblink Politico, August 13, 2018, August 17, 2018,weblink August 17, 2018, live, In July 2018, Pompeo raised the issue of Xinjiang internment camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur minority in China.WEB,weblink Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: Religious persecution in Iran, China must end now, USA Today, July 24, 2018, December 19, 2018,weblink December 16, 2018, live, Pompeo criticized Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his refusal to condemn the Chinese government's repressions against the Uyghurs.NEWS, Iran's Careful Approach to China's Uyghur Crackdown,weblink The Diplomat, September 18, 2018, December 31, 2018,weblink February 12, 2020, live, On October 10, 2018, Pompeo said Israel "is everything we want the entire Middle East to look like going forward" and that the Israel–United States relations are "stronger than ever".NEWS, US' Pompeo: 'We want the whole Middle East to look like Israel',weblink Middle East Monitor, October 11, 2018, December 31, 2018,weblink December 31, 2018, live, 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, 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{{spaces}}... I am confident that the Lord is at work here."WEB, Johnson, Alex, Pompeo suggests God sent Trump to save Israel "As a Christian, I certainly believe that's possible," the secretary of state said when asked whether the president had an explicitly divine mission.,weblink NBC News, March 22, 2019, March 22, 2019,weblink March 22, 2019, live, File:Secretary Pompeo Meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (30421982117).jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Pompeo with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin SalmanMohammad bin SalmanFile:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Polish Foreign Minister Czaputowicz - 40109273863.jpg|thumb|Pompeo meeting with Polish Foreign Minister Jacek CzaputowiczJacek CzaputowiczOn November 16, 2018, a CIA assessment was leaked to the media,WEB, White House Digs Itself in Deeper on Khashoggi,weblink Foreign Policy (magazine), Foreign Policy, December 4, 2018, December 5, 2018,weblink December 5, 2018, live, that concluded with "high confidence" Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the October 2, 2018, assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. 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.WEB, Trump administration defends close Saudi ties as Senate moves to end US support for Yemen war,weblink CNBC, November 28, 2018, December 5, 2018,weblink December 5, 2018, live, In what was seen as an effort to promote his presumed candidacy in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, Pompeo's book, (Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love), returned to his theme that the assassination and dismemberment was of little international consequence, that the victim was not a reporter of much, if any consequence, and was merely an "activist." He further denigrated Khashoggi as, "...cozy with the terrorist-supporting Muslim Brotherhood.”Mike Pompeo criticizes journalist Jamal Khashoggi as an 'activist' who received too much media sympathy, NBC, Natasha Korecki, Phil McCausland and Jesse Rodriguez, January 23, 2023. Retrieved January 24, 2023.File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Russian President Putin (33974455218).jpg|thumb|Pompeo and Russian president Vladimir PutinVladimir PutinOn 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 and to counter Iranian influence in the region had not changed. The trip included stops in Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and the Gulf nations.WEB,weblink Secretary of State Pompeo starts Middle East visit to ramp up pressure on Iran, Associated Press, January 8, 2019, KOMO, May 16, 2019,weblink April 14, 2019, live, File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (48759132577).jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|Pompeo with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu DhabiAbu DhabiPompeo announced on January 23, 2019, that Juan Guaidó 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.NEWS, Birnbaum, Emily, The Hill, Pompeo says Venezuela's Maduro can't 'break diplomatic relations' with US, January 23, 2019, January 23, 2019,weblinkweblink January 24, 2019, live, 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.WEB,weblink Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro abruptly cancels US visit after protests, Dom Phillips, May 3, 2019, The Guardian, May 6, 2019,weblink May 6, 2019, live, On May 14, 2019, Pompeo met for three hours with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and for ninety minutes with Russian President Vladimir Putin 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.NEWS, Troianovski, Anton, Anton Troianovski, May 14, 2019, Pompeo came to Putin seeking to reset U.S. ties. The secretary of state and the Russian president could only agree that many issues stand in the way., The Washington Post,weblink live, May 21, 2020,weblink March 25, 2020, 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 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.USA Today, "State Department website promotes Mike Pompeo speech on 'Being a Christian Leader'", October 14, 2019 weblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200411024345weblink|date=April 11, 2020}}The Times of Israel, "'My walk with Christ': Pompeo gives contentious speech on being Christian leader", October 12, 2019 weblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200528204305weblink|date=May 28, 2020}}Newsweek, "STATE DEPARTMENT'S PROMOTION OF 'BEING A CHRISTIAN LEADER' ON WEBSITE CRITICIZED FOR POTENTIAL VIOLATION OF CONSTITUTION ", October 14, 2019 weblink {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223062517weblink|date=February 23, 2020}} He also created the Commission on Unalienable Rights, and created a faith-based employee affinity group that includes contractors.State Department's first-ever employee Christian faith group underscores Mike Pompeo's influence {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105090459weblink |date=November 5, 2019 }}, Washington Post, November 1, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.File:Secretary Pompeo Meets with Turkish Foreign Minister Cavusoglu (49095081531).jpg|thumb|Pompeo meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt ÇavuşoğluMevlüt ÇavuşoğluPompeo defended the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, saying Turkey 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.NEWS, Rogin, Ali, Turkey had 'legitimate security concern' in attacking Syrian Kurds, Pompeo says,weblink PBS Newshour, October 9, 2019, June 2, 2020,weblink May 15, 2020, live, In November 2019, Pompeo said the U.S. no longer views Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as a violation of international law, breaking with decades of U.S. policy.NEWS, Trump changes decades-old U.S. position on illegality of Israeli settlements,weblink Los Angeles Times, November 18, 2019, November 19, 2019,weblink November 19, 2019, live, In rejecting a claimed double standard in recognizing Israel'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."NEWS, Bershidsky, Leonid, Why the Golan and Crimea Aren't So Different,weblink Bloomberg, March 20, 2019, June 2, 2020,weblink October 31, 2019, live, File:Secretary Pompeo Meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Hamdok (50267519563).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Pompeo with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, in Khartoum, SudanSudanIn January 2020, the Trump administration approved a drone strike that assassinated Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Pompeo was reportedly among the most hawkish advisors within the administration during the meeting in which Trump decided to assassinate Soleimani.NEWS,weblink As Tensions With Iran Escalated, Trump Opted for Most Extreme Measure, Cooper, Helene, January 4, 2020, The New York Times, January 12, 2020, Schmitt, Eric, en-US, 0362-4331, Haberman, Maggie, Callimachi, Rukmini,weblink January 6, 2020, live, 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.WEB,weblink Inside the plot by Iran's Soleimani to attack U.S. forces in Iraq, Reuters, January 3, 2019, January 6, 2019,weblink January 6, 2020, live, NEWS,weblink Pompeo: Strike on Soleimani disrupted an 'imminent attack', Veronica Stracqualursi, Jennifer Hansler, CNN, January 12, 2020,weblink January 5, 2020, live, NEWS,weblink As Tensions With Iran Escalated, Trump Opted for Most Extreme Measure, Cooper, Helene, January 4, 2020, The New York Times, January 4, 2020, Schmitt, Eric, Haberman, Maggie, Callimachi, Rukmini,weblink January 6, 2020, live, NEWS,weblink Skepticism mounts over evidence of 'imminent' threat that Trump says justified Soleimani killing, Zachary, Cohen, CNN, January 12, 2020,weblink January 5, 2020, live, 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.Breslow, Jason, Pompeo Won't Say Whether He Owes Yovanovitch An Apology. 'I've Done What's Right' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200126034202weblink |date=January 26, 2020 }}, All Things Considered, National Public Radio, January 24, 2020After four-term U.S. Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas announced that he would not seek re-election in the 2020 election, Pompeo considered leaving the Trump administration to run for the seat.WEB, Hanna, John, August 16, 2019, Republicans still waiting on Pompeo in Kansas Senate race,weblink live,weblink August 20, 2019, August 20, 2019, AP NEWS, WEB, Burke, Michael, March 17, 2019, Pompeo open to future Senate run: 'The Lord will get me to the right place',weblink live,weblink March 30, 2019, March 30, 2019, The Hill, In June 2020, he ultimately declined to enter the race.NEWS, Wise, Lindsay, June 1, 2020, Pompeo Declines to Enter Kansas Senate Race, Setting Up Heated GOP Primary, Wall Street Journal,weblink Pompeo praised the Trump-brokered normalization agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as an "enormous" step forward on the "right path".NEWS, Pompeo says Israel-UAE agreement is enormous step forward,weblink Reuters, August 13, 2020, On August 27, 2020, Pompeo, after visiting Omani 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, "...{{spaces}}the lack of any additional public commitments during Secretary Pompeo's regional tour looks like an anti-climax [and] it is possible that a lack of clarity on the U.S. commitment to deliver F-35s to the UAE could have also played a part in slowing a second wave of normalisation."NEWS, Pompeo heads home after pushing Israel deal on Mideast tour,weblink France 24, August 27, 2020,

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.NEWS, Lederman, Josh, Laura Strickler, Laura, De Luce, Dan, Pompeo's elite taxpayer-funded dinners raise new concerns,weblink NBC News, May 20, 2020, June 5, 2022, 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 hit the U.S., but resumed the dinners at the Blair House 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 (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.NEWS, Kelly, Laura,weblinkweblink dead, July 7, 2021, Watchdog: Pompeo spent $65,000 on taxpayer-funded 'Madison Dinners', The Hill (magazine), The Hill, July 7, 2021, June 4, 2022, WEB, Sus, Nikhel,weblink Pompeo's Madison Dinners cost taxpayers nearly $65,000, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, July 7, 2021, June 4, 2022,

Threatening of the International Criminal Court

On March 17 2020, Pompeo threatened two staff members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Phakiso Mochochoko and ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda’s in their effort to use the ICC to investigate Americans. Pompeo claimed that they were putting Americans at risk, and intimidated them that the US could act against them, as well as other ICC personnel and their families.WEB, Secretary Michael R. Pompeo Remarks to the Press,weblink U.S. Department of State, Press Briefing Room, 30 April 2024, Initially the ICC decision had given a decision to approve an investigation into US crimes in Afghanistan for the victims in the hope of justice on March 5, 2020.WEB, ICC Greenlights Afghanistan Investigation,weblink Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 30 April 2024, Conditions however included restrictions on the issuance of visas on Mike Pompeo´s instruction from the Department of State. Immediately after the March 5 decision, Pompeo disparaged the court. The ensuing comments against the ICC staffers were even more pointed. These threats were to used to distract from the US´s failure to hold to account perpetrators of torture and other mistreatment in CIA “black sites” throughout Afghanistan, Poland, Romania, and Lithuania where the ICC had the authority to investigate.WEB, US Again Threatens International Criminal Court,weblink Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch, 30 April 2024, Eventually, sanctions were applied to the ICC´s personnel without giving the specific reasons other than that they were “specially designated nationals” which would have catergorized them within same groupings of terrorists and narcotics traffickers. Donald Trump subsequently issued an executive order imposing sanctions on the said ICC individuals. In parallel, while this impeded the ICC investigations in Afghanistan and associated "black site" countries where the American´s had allegedly carried out torture. Concurrently the US also opposed ICC scrutiny of potential Israeli crimes against Palestinians as part of an investigation that also looked into abuses carried out by Israel.WEB, US imposes sanctions on top international criminal court officials,weblink The Guardian, 30 April 2024, Eventually these sanctions were reversed under the Joe Biden Presidency on April 2, 2021. WEB, Toosi, Nahal, Biden lifts sanctions on International Criminal Court officials,weblink Politico, 30 April 2024,

Inspector general investigations

After Trump fired the State Department inspector general, Steve Linick in May 2020,WEB, Breuninger, Kevin, May 20, 2020, Pompeo abruptly ends press briefing after questions about State Department IG firing,weblink live,weblink May 28, 2020, May 20, 2020, CNBC, en, it became known that Linick had begun an investigation into ethics violations by Pompeo and his wife alleged by whistle-blowers.NEWS,weblink Trump Removes State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, Kelemen, Michelle, May 16, 2020, NPR, May 20, 2020,weblink May 16, 2020, live, NEWS,weblink Trump ousts State Department watchdog, McGraw, Meridith, Toosi, Nahal, May 15, 2020, Politico, May 20, 2020,weblink May 17, 2020, live, 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,NEWS, Hudson, John, Pompeo broke ethics rules by asking his staff to do personal errands, internal watchdog finds, en-US, April 16, 2021, The Washington Post,weblink 2021-04-17, 0190-8286, "from booking salon appointments and private dinner reservations to picking up their dog and arranging tours for the Pompeos' political allies."NEWS, Toosi, Nahal,weblink Pompeos violated rules on use of State Department resources, IG finds, Politico, April 16, 2021, May 31, 2022, The inspector general concluded that the behavior was inconsistent with regulations NEWS, Lee, Matthew,weblink State Dept. watchdog says Pompeo, wife violated ethics rules, Associated Press, April 16, 2021, May 30, 2022, NEWS, Solender, Andrew,weblink Pompeo's Wife Had State Staffers Make Hair Appointments, Walk Dog, Ethics Probe Finds, Forbes, April 16, 2021, June 1, 2022, 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."WEB,weblink Review of Allegations of Misuse of Department of State Resources, Office of Inspector General, United States Department of State, May 30, 2022, April 4, 2022,weblink dead, 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.NEWS, Wong, Edward, Sanger, David E., May 19, 2020, Pompeo Declined Interview Request From Inspector General About Saudi Arms Sales, en-US, The New York Times,weblink May 20, 2020, 0362-4331,weblink May 20, 2020, live, 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.WEB, Fired State Department watchdog was probing protocol office,weblink Toosi, Nahal, POLITICO, May 20, 2020, May 20, 2020, Pompeo denied that he sought to fire Linick in retaliation.

Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump

{{Further|Trump–Ukraine scandal}}{{Trump–Ukraine scandal}}File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Ukrainian Foreign Minister Prystaiko (49469750023).jpg|thumb|Pompeo with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko in KyivKyivWhen asked about his knowledge of the controversial call made by President Trump on July 25, 2019, to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in which Trump solicited assistance in investigating the son of former vice president and presidential candidate Joe Biden,The Latest: Pompeo was on Trump-Ukraine call, officials say {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002013833weblink |date=October 2, 2019 }}, Wichita Eagle, Associated Press, September 30, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019. Pompeo initially said he had little knowledge of Trump's call with Zelenskyy 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.With Pompeo's Refusal to Obey Subpoena, Trump Administration 'Actively Obstructing the Impeachment Inquiry' {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200118073929weblink |date=January 18, 2020 }}, Common Dreams, Julia Conley, October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.Pompeo informed the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the House Intelligence Committee, and the House Oversight Committee 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{{'"}}.NEWS, Trump impeachment: Pompeo accuses Democrats of 'bullying',weblink BBC News, October 1, 2019, June 2, 2020,weblink May 28, 2020, live, 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."Democrats accuse Pompeo of 'stonewalling,' after he pushes back on impeachment requests {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214222546weblink |date=February 14, 2020 }}, USA Today, Deirdre Shesgreen, October 1, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2019.William B. Taylor Jr., 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 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.The New York Times, "6 Key Revelations of Taylor's Opening Statement to Impeachment Investigators", October 22, 2019 weblinkIn his public testimony on November 20, 2019, Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland noted in his opening statement that United States Secretary of Energy Rick Perry, then-U.S. Ambassador to NATO Kurt Volker and Sondland himself stayed in touch with Rudy Giuliani regarding the President's expectation that a public statement should be made by President Zelenskyy 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.Wall Street Journal, "Opening Statement of Ambassador Gordon Sondland", November 20, 2019 weblink" title="https:/-/web.archive.org/web/20200610144833weblink">weblinkAn October 23, 2019, Freedom of Information 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.NEWS, Wong, Edward, Vogel, Kenneth P.,weblink New Documents Reveal Details of Pompeo's Role in Ukraine Affair, The New York Times, November 23, 2019, May 21, 2020,weblink May 19, 2020, live, NEWS, CNN, Judge orders State Department to release Ukraine records in 30 days, October 23, 2019,weblink Zachary, Cohen, October 25, 2019,weblink October 23, 2019, live, 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 FBI 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.WEB,weblink Mike Pompeo says US has a 'duty' to investigate the bogus conspiracy theory at the center of the Ukraine scandal, Panetta, Grace, Business Insider, December 6, 2019,weblink December 5, 2019, live, 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?"WEB,weblink Secretary Michael R. Pompeo Remarks to the Press, United States Department of State, en-US, December 6, 2019,weblink November 30, 2019, live, 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.NEWS, Coronavirus: US wants to enter Wuhan virology lab, and Trump questions China death toll,weblink South China Morning Post, April 18, 2020, April 27, 2020,weblink April 22, 2020, live, NEWS, COVID-19: Pompeo presses China to allow lab inspections,weblink CNA (news channel), CNA, April 23, 2020, April 27, 2020,weblink April 26, 2020, live, 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.WEB, David, Brennan, U.S. scientists not allowed into China to investigate coronavirus origins, Mike Pompeo says,weblink Newsweek, en, April 23, 2020, April 27, 2020,weblink April 27, 2020, live, On May 13, 2020, Pompeo made a swift visit to Israel for his first trip overseas since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.NEWS, Holmes, Oliver, Mike Pompeo breaks travel hiatus for hours-long visit to Israel,weblink November 16, 2020, The Guardian, May 13, 2020, Jerusalem, 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.NEWS, 2020, Pompeo invites hundreds to indoor holiday parties after subordinates are warned against hosting 'non-mission critical events', The Washington Post,weblink At the same time, the State Department was advising its employees not to have in-person gatherings.WEB, Pompeo flouts his own Covid guidelines with indoor holiday parties,weblink 2020-12-20, NBC News, December 3, 2020, en, Photos from the event showed attendees not wearing masks consistently.NEWS, 2020, Hundreds of invitees skip Mike Pompeo's indoor holiday party at State Department, The Washington Post,weblink 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.NEWS, 2020, Pompeo cancels final holiday party after he comes into contact with coronavirus, The Washington Post,weblink November 4, 2021, August 14, 2021,weblink dead, WEB, Porterfield, Carlie, Pompeo Quarantines After Coronavirus Exposure—After Throwing A Christmas Party,weblink 2020-12-20, Forbes, en,

2019 emergency arms sale

In May 2019, Pompeo announced an "emergency" to push through $8.1{{spaces}}billion of arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, citing Iranian activity in the Middle East. This led to widespread congressional opposition, given the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war that contributed to a humanitarian crisis in Yemen. The emergency arms sale triggered a probe by then-State Department inspector general Steve Linick, into the propriety of the arms sale. Pompeo refused to be interviewed by Linick, who was also leading a separate Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigation into whether Pompeo and his wife used official resources for personal business.WEB,weblinkweblink 2020-08-11, subscription, live, State Dept. Says Report Defends Pompeo on Arms Sales. But It Finds Fault Over Mass Deaths., August 10, 2020, The New York Times, In May 2020, Trump fired Inspector General Linick at Pompeo's recommendation. The firing was scrutinized by Congress, and in June 2020, Linick testified that Brian Bulatao, a senior State Department appointee and Pompeo ally, attempted to "bully" and improperly pressure him into halting the investigation.Catie Edmondson, Ousted Watchdog Says State Dept. Official Pressured Him to End Inquiry Into Pompeo, New York Times (June 3, 2020). Stephen Akard, who became acting IG upon Linick's firing, resigned in August 2020. A week later, OIG issued a report following the investigation into emergency arms sales; the report found that Pompeo did not violate any procedures in declaring the "emergency" but also determined that the State Department had failed to fully consider the humanitarian impact of the arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, including the Gulf Arab states' use of U.S. bombs in Yemen, killing thousands of civilians. The State Department leadership, in a statement issued after the OIG report was released, hailed the former finding, but made not mention of the latter finding.

Republican National Convention speech

On August 25, 2020, Pompeo recorded a speech during an official diplomatic visit to Jerusalem,WEB, 2020-08-27, Watchdog groups say convention appearances broke Hatch Act,weblink 2020-08-28, AP NEWS, during the Republican National Convention, in support of the incumbent and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.Dareh Gregorian, Watchdog: Mike Pompeo changed State Department rules, violated Hatch Act with convention speech, NBC News (November 9, 2021). The speech broke precedent, which established that State Department employees and leaders do not speak at political party events. Four days before the speech, Pompeo announced a change to longstanding State Department policy to allow the speech, but specified that the change was a special exceptions that applied only to him. Pompeo made the change to the department's rule—allowing the Secretary of State to speak to "political party convention when requested by or for the President"—against the advice of the State Department's senior legal advisers.Following the speech, the House Foreign Affairs Committee'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.WEB, Josh Lederman, House panel to investigate Pompeo's RNC speech,weblink 2020-08-28, www.nbcnews.com, August 25, 2020, en, A spokesperson for Pompeo said that the department was not bearing any of the costs of the speech and that Pompeo spoke in his "personal capacity. After the speech, Eliot Engel, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee announced that the committee would draft resolution holding Pompeo in contempt, 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."NEWS, Kelly, Laura, Beavers, Olivia, Engel announces contempt proceedings against Pompeo,weblink November 16, 2020, The Hill (newspaper), The Hill, August 28, 2020, The Oversight Subcommittee Chairman, Joaquin Castro, said the "likely unprecedented" speech "may also be illegal."The Office of the Special Counsel launched a probe into Pompeo's speech,WEB, Nicole Gaouette and Kylie Atwood, Pompeo being investigated for potentially breaking the law with RNC speech,weblink 2020-10-27, CNN, October 26, 2020, and in November 2021, the Office released a report concluding that Pompeo was one of at least 13 senior Trump administration officials who violated the Hatch Act. The office found that Pompeo had known of the Hatch Act's restrictions before giving the speech and had ignored advice from State Department personnel on "how to comply with the Hatch Act when delivering the speech."

Afghanistan and the Taliban

File:Secretary Pompeo Participates in a Security Shura.jpg|thumb|Pompeo with General Austin S. Miller in KabulKabulPompeo was involved in negotiations with the Taliban that set the stage for a U.S. departure from Afghanistan.NEWS, 2021, Mike Pompeo on the Taliban: A timeline, en-US, Washington Post,weblink 2021-08-27, 0190-8286, 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, Afghan president Ashraf Ghani agreed to the release, which was completed the next month.NEWS, Hanson, Nate, Yes, the Trump administration in 2020 agreed to the release of 5,000 Taliban prisoners,weblink August 31, 2021, WBNS-TV, August 30, 2021, WEB, Pompeo, Mike, On the Loya Jirga in Afghanistan,weblink August 31, 2021, United States Department of State, August 6, 2020,

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."NEWS, New Yorker, Ronan, Farrow, Ronan Farrow, June 17, 2021,weblink Can Biden Reverse Trump's Damage to the State Department?, NEWS,weblink Pompeo Promises 'A Smooth Transition To A Second Trump Administration', Bill, Chappell, NPR, November 10, 2020, November 11, 2020, Pompeo: 'There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration', Washington Post, November 10, 2020. Retrieved October 16, 2016.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.WEB,weblink State Department tells diplomats to affirm Biden's victory after Capitol riot, Kylie, Atwood, Jennifer, Hansler, CNN, January 7, 2021, CNN On January 8, Pompeo met with Biden's incoming secretary of state Antony Blinken.WEB,weblink Pompeo met with Biden's secretary of state pick for first time, Kylie, Atwood, Jennifer, Hansler, CNN, January 8, 2021, CNN 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 nominee.WEB,weblink Pompeo offers burst of actions, attacks before leaving State, January 15, 2021, Associated Press, 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.(File:Former Secretary Pompeo Waves to Employees Before Departing the Department of State (50862603108).jpg|thumb|Pompeo departs the Department of State on January 20, 2021.)On January 12, 2021, Pompeo cancelled a planned European trip when European diplomats declined to meet with him.NEWS, Pamuk, Michelle Nichols, Humeyra, 2021-01-12, Ahead of Biden transition, U.S. cancels U.N. envoy's trip to Taiwan, en, Reuters,weblink 2021-01-12, Pompeo made a large number of foreign policy decisions during the lame duck period of the Trump administration in the weeks leading up to the inauguration of Joe Biden, including many likely to be reversed under Biden. Pompeo ordered the re-designation of Cuba as a "state sponsor of terrorism"WEB, Trump hits Cuba with new terrorism sanctions in waning days, Associated Press, April 20, 2021,weblink Associated Press and the designation of the Houthi rebels as a "foreign terrorist organization". The latter decision indirectly reduced humanitarian aid to Yemeni people, and it was quickly reversed by the Biden administration.Lara Jakes & Eric Schmitt, Biden Reverses Trump Terrorist Designation for Houthis in Yemen, New York Times (February 5, 2021).On January 19, 2021, Pompeo announced that the Department of State had determined that "genocide and crimes against humanity" had been perpetrated by China against the Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang.WEB, U.S. Says China Is Committing 'Genocide' Against Uighur Muslims, Gordon, Michael R., The Wall Street Journal, 19 January 2021,weblink NEWS, Pompeo, Mike, 2021-01-19, Genocide in Xinjiang, en, The Wall Street Journal,weblink The announcement was made on the last full day of the presidency of Donald Trump. On January 20, 2021, Pompeo and several other Trump administration officials were sanctioned by China. 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 targeted individuals and their immediate family members were banned from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, and were also restricted from doing business with China either individually or through their companies and institutions.NEWS, January 21, 2021, China imposes sanctions on 28 Trump-era officials including Mike Pompeo and Steve Bannon for interfering 'in China's internal affairs', ABC News (Australia),weblink August 3, 2022, NEWS, January 20, 2021, Lee, Matthew, China hits Trump officials with sanctions on their way out,weblink 2021-01-21, AP NEWS, NEWS, January 20, 2021, McEvoy, Jemima, China Sanctions Top Trump Officials, Including Pompeo, Navarro And Azar,weblink 2021-01-21, Forbes, en, President Biden's National Security Council called the sanctions "unproductive and cynical".NEWS,weblink 21 January 2021, Reuters, Biden administration calls China sanctions on Trump officials 'unproductive and cynical', January 21, 2021, Martina, Michael, NEWS, January 21, 2021, Biden Administration Criticizes China Sanctions on Former Trump Officials, Voice of America,weblink August 3, 2022,

Post-Trump administration (2021–present)

File:Pompeo-Tsai meeting (2022-03-03).jpg|thumb|250px|Pompeo meeting with President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen in TaipeiTaipeiIn January 2021, Pompeo joined the Hudson Institute as a distinguished fellow.NEWS, Axelrod, Tal, January 27, 2021, Pompeo to join conservative think tank Hudson Institute, The Hill (magazine), The Hill,weblinkweblink dead, January 27, 2021, June 4, 2022, In February 2021, Pompeo founded the Champion American Values PAC (CAVPAC).WEB, Duster, Chandelis, 2021-06-15, Pompeo launches political group with 2024 presidential election in sight {{!, CNN Politics |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/15/politics/mike-pompeo-cavpac/index.html |access-date=2023-08-25 |website=CNN |language=en}}Pompeo expressed support for the Biden administration's extension of the withdrawal timeline of U.S. troops from Afghanistan to August 2021. He ultimately distanced himself and the Trump administration from the situation facing Afghanistan post-withdrawal, following the fall of Kabul to the Taliban.WEB, 2021, Fact check: Trump administration officials try to rewrite their own Afghanistan history,weblink 2021-08-27, CNN, WEB, Mcgraw, Meridith, August 26, 2021, Mike Pompeo takes his own arrows over the Afghanistan collapse,weblink 2021-08-27, POLITICO, en, NEWS, Crowley, Michael, 2021-08-19, Trump's Deal With the Taliban Draws Fire From His Former Allies, en-US, The New York Times,weblink limited, 2021-08-27,weblink 2021-12-28, 0362-4331, {{cbignore}}Pompeo was paid by the Taiwanese government-affiliated thinktank Prospect Foundation to deliver a speech on March 4, 2022.BOOK, Lampton, David M., Living U.S.-China Relations: From Cold War to Cold War, 2024, Rowman & Littlefield, 978-1-5381-8725-8, Lanham, MD, David M. Lampton, {{Rp|page=339}} Reporting of Pompeo's pay varied, with $150,000 being the most commonly reported figure.{{Rp|page=339}} In his speech, Pompeo called on the United States to recognize the Republic of China as an independent and sovereign country.{{Rp|page=339}}In August 2022 it emerged that Pompeo was the target of an assassination plot by Iran.WEB, August 10, 2022, Mike Pompeo also a target in alleged Iranian assassination plot against John Bolton,weblink news.yahoo.com, In January 2023, HarperCollins published Pompeo's memoir of his tenure in the Trump administration, (Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love).{{citation needed|date=July 2023}}Pompeo considered a candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and toured early primary states, but ultimately announced his decision not to run in April 2023.NEWS, April 14, 2023, Mike Pompeo Says He Won't Run for President in 2024, The New York Times,weblink April 20, 2023, Alongside David M. Friedman, Pompeo featured in the 2023 documentary Route 60: The Biblical Highway, directed by Matt Crouch.WEB,weblink Route 60: Biblical Highway breaks box office expectations, September 21, 2023, In 2023, Pompeo joined the board of directors of Cyabra, an Israeli counter-disinformation company which has recorded a 20% revenue growth in recent years.WEB, 2024-01-19, OurCrowd CEO Jon Medved talks Zionism, optimism, and changing the world,weblink 2024-01-31, The Jerusalem Post {{!, JPost.com |language=en-US}}In October 2023, Pompeo became Of counsel for Texas-based law firm Oberheiden, P.C., a federal criminal defense law firm, joining former US Congressman Trey Gowdy and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe.WEB, Former Secretary Of State Pompeo Joins Texas-Based Firm - Law360,weblink www.law360.com, 28 March 2024, en,

Political positions

Foreign policy

In 2013, Pompeo supported the surveillance programs of the National Security Agency, referring to the agency's efforts as "good and important work".NEWS,weblink NSA is doing 'important work', Pompeo tells Wichita State students, Lefler, Dion, The Wichita Eagle, November 4, 2013, dead,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140413142033weblink">weblink April 13, 2014, 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."NEWS, Pompeo, Mike, Rivkin, David B. Jr., January 3, 2016, Time for a Rigorous National Debate About Surveillance, The Wall Street Journal,weblink live, March 10, 2017,weblink March 14, 2017, 0099-9660, {{subscription required}} In March 2017, WikiLeaks began publishing a series of documents known as Vault 7, 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, Pompeo called WikiLeaks "a non-state hostile intelligence service" and described Assange as a "narcissist" and "a fraud—a coward hiding behind a screen".NEWS, Rosenberg, Matthew, April 13, 2017, Mike Pompeo, Once a WikiLeaks Fan, Attacks It as Hostile Agent, The New York Times,weblink live, April 13, 2019,weblink February 12, 2020, WEB, April 13, 2017, Director Pompeo Delivers Remarks at CSIS,weblink dead,weblink April 11, 2019, April 13, 2019, CIA, In 2022 a lawsuit was filed against Pompeo and other defendants alleging that they have illegally placed Assange and his guests under surveillance.WEB, Agence France-Presse, 2022-08-16, Julian Assange lawyers sue CIA over alleged spying,weblink 2022-11-27, the Guardian, en, WEB, Irujo, José María, 2019-11-08, The US trail of the man whose security firm spied on Julian Assange,weblink 2022-11-28, EL PAÍS English Edition, en-us, In a 2013 speech on the House floor, Pompeo said Muslim leaders who fail to denounce acts of terrorism done in the name of Islam are "potentially complicit" in the attacks.NEWS,weblink GOP lawmaker: US Muslim leaders 'complicit' in terrorist attacks, Kasperowicz, Pete, The Hill, June 11, 2013, April 9, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140413143049weblink">weblink April 13, 2014, live, The Council on American–Islamic Relations called on him to revise his remarks, calling them "false and irresponsible".WEB,weblink GOP lawmaker: US Muslim call Pompeo comments leaders "false and irresponsible", Council on American-Islamic Relations, June 12, 2013, April 9, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170416161742weblink">weblink April 16, 2017, dead, In 2016, ACT for America gave Pompeo a "national security eagle award" for his comments on Islam.NEWS, Goodstein, Laurie, Pompeo and Bolton Appointments Raise Alarm Over Ties to Anti-Islam Groups,weblink April 8, 2018, The New York Times, April 7, 2018, A1,weblink April 8, 2018, live, Pompeo has been a frequent guest on anti-Muslim activist Frank Gaffney's radio show for the Center for Security Policy. As a congressman, he cosponsored legislation to add the Muslim Brotherhood to the United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.NEWS, Blake, Hounshell, Toosi, Nahal, Nahal Toosi, CIA Memo: Designating Muslim Brotherhood Could 'Fuel Extremism',weblink April 8, 2018, POLITICO Magazine, February 8, 2017,weblink April 8, 2018, live, {{USBill|114|HR|3892}}, 114th Cong. (2015).Pompeo opposed closing the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.NEWS,weblink Senate debates Guantánamo in first hearing on closing prison since 2009, Associated Press, The Guardian, London, England, July 24, 2014, December 15, 2016,weblink December 19, 2016, live, After a 2013 visit to the prison, he said, of the prisoners who were on hunger strike, "It looked to me like a lot of them had put on weight."NEWS,weblink GOP Rep: 'No crisis' at Gitmo, detainees 'have put on weight', MSNBC, May 26, 2013, February 18, 2020,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20191126052902weblink">weblink November 26, 2019, live, He criticized the Obama administration's decision to end secret prisons and its requirement that all interrogators adhere to anti-torture laws.NEWS,weblink Trump Turns to His Right Flank to Fill National Security Posts, Davis, Julie Hirschfeld, The New York Times, 0362-4331, November 18, 2016, March 2, 2017,weblink March 8, 2017, live, In March 2014, he denounced the inclusion of a telecast by Edward Snowden at the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, and asked that it be cancelled, predicting it would encourage "lawless behavior" among attendees.NEWS,weblink SXSW 2014: Mike Pompeo wants Edward Snowden off the bill, Drusch, Andrea, March 9, 2014, Politico, April 9, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140313182859weblink">weblink March 13, 2014, live, 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."NEWS,weblink Lawmaker: 'Traitor' Snowden deserves death penalty, Pete, Kasperowicz, Washington Examiner, February 11, 2016, November 18, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20170201054220weblink">weblink February 1, 2017, live, But he has spoken in favor of reforming the Federal Records Act, 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 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."NEWS,weblink Hillary Clinton's tech failings could ripple through records rules, Rudy, Takala, Rudy Takala, Washington Examiner, June 20, 2016, January 23, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20160727222600weblink">weblink July 27, 2016, live, On July 21, 2015, Pompeo and Senator Tom Cotton 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.NEWS,weblink White House launches Iran side deals counterattack, Jordan, Fabian, Kristina, Wong, The Hill, July 26, 2015, August 10, 2015,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20150812064127weblink">weblink August 12, 2015, live, In November 2015, Pompeo visited Israel and said, "Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is a true partner of the American people."NEWS,weblink Mike Pompeo Has Hawkish History on Israel and Iran, Amir, Tibon, Haaretz, November 30, 2017, December 1, 2017,weblink December 1, 2017, live, He supported Trump's 2017 decision to move America's embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.NEWS, The Trump-whisperer,weblink The Economist, March 16, 2018, March 16, 2018,weblink March 15, 2018, live, 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."WEB,weblink Cotton, Pompeo And Trump Are A Recipe For War With Iran, Trita, Parsi, Ryan, Costello, HuffPost, November 30, 2017, December 1, 2017,weblink December 1, 2017, live, 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."File:President Trump Welcome the Prime Minister of Israel to the White House, 25 March 2019.jpg|thumb|President Trump, joined by Pompeo and Netanyahu behind, signs the proclamation recognizing Israel's 1981 annexation of the Golan HeightsGolan HeightsIn 2017, it was reported that Pompeo had expressed desire for regime change in North Korea.NEWS,weblink CIA chief signals desire for regime change in North Korea, Eli, Watkins, CNN, July 21, 2017, December 1, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171201234206weblink">weblink December 1, 2017, live, 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."NEWS,weblink CIA chief 'hopeful' for change in North Korea, Max, Greenwood, The Hill, July 21, 2017, December 1, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171202052620weblink">weblink December 2, 2017, live, 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 $2{{spaces}}billion in weapons sales to America's Gulf allies, according to a classified memo and people familiar with the decision".NEWS,weblink Top U.S. Diplomat Backed Continuing Support for Saudi War in Yemen Over Objections of Staff, Dion, Nissenbaum, Dion Nissenbaum, The Wall Street Journal, September 20, 2018, December 1, 2018,weblink November 30, 2018, live, In November 2018, Pompeo blamed Iran 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.NEWS, Iranian foreign minister slams Pompeo over Yemen comments,weblink CNN, November 9, 2018, May 21, 2019,weblink November 14, 2018, live, While being interviewed on a podcast in 2023, Pompeo claimed that Israel had a biblical claim to the Palestinian territories, and therefore the situation could not be defined as an occupation. Pompeo made several explosive statements during the interview, including calling Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a "known terrorist".NEWS, McGreal, Chris, 2023-02-16, Pompeo says Israel has biblical claim to Palestine and is 'not an occupying nation', en-GB, The Guardian,weblink 2023-02-16, 0261-3077,

China

File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing (40985611020).jpg|thumb|Pompeo and Chinese Communist Party general secretary and Chinese president Xi JinpingXi JinpingDuring 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.WEB, Gehrke, Joel, Mike Pompeo says China is a threat to the US-Israeli relationship,weblink July 26, 2020, Business Insider, He accused the World Health Organization of being under control of the People's Republic of China and implicated China as being behind the significant number of deaths in the UK as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. He praised the UK when they started to push back against the Chinese Communist Party and its General Secretary Xi Jinping, especially with respect to Huawei.NEWS, Mueller, Benjamin, July 21, 2020, Pompeo Praises Britain for Getting Tough on China, en-US, The New York Times,weblinkweblink 2020-07-21, subscription, live, July 22, 2020, 0362-4331, 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.NEWS, July 23, 2020, US arrests three Chinese nationals for visa fraud, en-GB, BBC News,weblink July 24, 2020, 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.NEWS, July 14, 2020, Beijing's South China Sea project illegal, says US, en-GB, BBC News,weblink July 24, 2020, Michael Hirson, at Eurasia Group, argued that Pompeo was calling for regime change.WEB, Lee, Yen Nee, July 24, 2020, Pompeo's speech slamming China will have the 'opposite effect,' says former U.S. diplomat,weblink July 24, 2020, CNBC, en, He called on the Chinese people to betray their government and rise up to change the Chinese Communist Party.WEB, Pompeo urges more assertive approach to 'Frankenstein' China,weblink July 24, 2020, CNA, en, July 24, 2020,weblink dead, 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 JinpingWEB, Churchill, Owen, US officials now call Xi Jinping 'general secretary' instead of China's 'president'—but why?,weblink July 25, 2020, July 25, 2020, South China Morning Post, en, as "a true believer in a bankrupt totalitarian ideology".WEB, Re, Gregg, Pompeo announces end of 'blind engagement' with communist China: 'Distrust but verify',weblink July 23, 2020, July 23, 2020, Fox News, en, 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 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.NEWS, 24 September 2020, US sec. of state accuses Beijing of stirring racial unrest, Hong Kong Free Press,weblink July 6, 2021, In October 2020, Donald Trump was diagnosed with COVID-19, and Pompeo cancelled scheduled visits to South Korea and Mongolia.NEWS, Ramzy, Austin, 2020-10-04, Mike Pompeo cuts visits to South Korea and Mongolia from his Asia trip., en-US, The New York Times,weblinkweblink 2020-10-05, subscription, live, 2020-10-08, 0362-4331, However, he still held a meeting with the foreign ministers of Quad allies Australia, India and Japan, during which he accused the Chinese Communist Party of "exploitation, corruption and coercion".NEWS, 2020-10-06, Pompeo lashes out at China at 'Quad' meeting, en-GB, BBC News,weblink 2020-10-07,

Taiwan

Visiting Taipei in 2022, Pompeo said that the U.S. should recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) as an independent country.WEB,weblink United States should recognise 'free' Taiwan, Mike Pompeo says, Al Jazeera, 2022-03-04, 2022-09-22,

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".NEWS,weblink Trump's CIA Pick: Russia 'Threatening Europe,' Failing To Destroy Islamic State, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, March 13, 2018, en,weblink March 14, 2018, live, In August 2018, Pompeo called Russia to "immediately release" jailed Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.NEWS,weblink Pompeo Calls On Russia To Free Hunger-Striking Sentsov, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, August 23, 2018, February 17, 2019,weblink February 18, 2019, live, In February 2022, right before Russia invaded Ukraine, Pompeo gave an interview in which he praised Russian president Vladimir Putin. Russian state television aired the interview. Pompeo's comments reflected comments made by Trump after the invasion praising Putin.Graham, David A. "Putin's Useful Idiots." The Atlantic. 24 February 2022. 24 February 2022. The same month, during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Pompeo called Putin a "dictator" over the invasion, though also stated that he continued to believe that China was a greater national security threat to the United States than Russia.WEB, Tidd, Jason, Mike Pompeo calls Vladimir Putin a dictator, blames Biden for Ukraine war, but China 'greater threat',weblink 2022-08-17, The Topeka Capital-Journal, en-US, During a speech at the Hudson Institute in June 2022, Pompeo described the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a "planned genocide" designed to create a "new Russian Empire" similar to the Soviet Union with large amounts of energy reserves.WEB, 2022-06-23, Russia wants to control energy reserves of all former Soviet countries, Mike Pompeo says,weblink 2022-08-17, POLITICO, en-US,

Energy and environment

File:Mike Pompeo by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg|thumb|Pompeo at the Values Voter SummitValues Voter SummitSpeaking 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."WEB,weblink Mike Pompeo on Washington Journal, C-SPAN, June 25, 2013, June 2, 2020,weblink August 21, 2019, live, 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.WEB,weblink Pledge Takers, Americans for Prosperity, NoClimateTax.com, November 3, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171223085238weblink">weblink December 23, 2017, dead, 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".NEWS,weblink Rep. Mike Pompeo: Wind tax credit harms economy, Pompeo, Mike, The Wichita Eagle, September 30, 2012, April 9, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140413124048weblink">weblink April 13, 2014, dead, In 2015, Pompeo opposed the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions by the United States and supported eliminating the United States federal register of greenhouse gas emissions.NEWS,weblink Kansas starts working toward clean air plan that Pompeo wants to kill, Dion, Lefler, The Wichita Eagle, December 3, 2015, November 18, 2016,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180316011137weblink">weblink March 16, 2018, live, As a member of the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, he voted for two resolutions disapproving of the Clean Power Plan implemented by the United States Environmental Protection Agency 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."WEB, Levitz, Eric, Trump Thwarts GOP Plot to Pretend His Climate Agenda Isn't Idiotic,weblink New York Intelligencer, May 28, 2019, June 3, 2019,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20190602225156weblink">weblink June 2, 2019, live, MAGAZINE, McKibben, Bill, The U.N. Report on Extinction vs. Mike Pompeo at the Arctic Council, The New Yorker,weblink May 8, 2019, en, May 8, 2019,weblink May 8, 2019, live, He described the Paris climate accord, along with the World Health Organisation and Human Rights Council, as one of the "three sins".WEB, Bourke, Latika, July 21, 2020, 'We're going to need the Australians': Pompeo lays out contest with China,weblink July 22, 2020, The Sydney Morning Herald, en,

Health care

Pompeo opposed the Affordable Care Act (ACA).NEWS,weblink The ObamaCare train wreck: Column, Pompeo, Mike, USA Today, September 3, 2013, September 5, 2017,weblink December 1, 2017, live, Pompeo has been criticized for saying he supports funding for certain programs, yet opposing them when they are a part of the ACA.NEWS,weblink GOP Congressman Explains Why He Wants to Defund a Health Program He Supports, Fang, Lee, The Nation, October 15, 2013, November 30, 2017,weblink December 1, 2017, live, He accused the World Health Organization of being under control of the People's Republic of China.NEWS, Sabbagh, Dan, Stewart, Heather, July 21, 2020, Mike Pompeo attacks WHO in private meeting during UK visit, en-GB, The Guardian,weblink July 22, 2020, 0261-3077, The WHO responded by saying Pompeo's comments were unacceptable and a distraction from dealing with the coronavirus pandemic. Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an American who was head of the WHO's emerging diseases and zoonosis unit at the time of the pandemic also expressed pride at the WHO for "saving lives".WEB, Macias, Will Feuer, Amanda, July 23, 2020, WHO slams 'unacceptable' remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo,weblink July 24, 2020, CNBC, en, It was argued that the attempt to blame the WHO was a way to draw attention away from the failings of the Trump administration.WEB, The Editorial Board, Editorial: Trump's WHO war is just an attempt to divert attention from his own failures.,weblink July 24, 2020, STLtoday.com, May 20, 2020, en,

Social issues

File:U.S. Congressman Mike Pompeo speaking at Freedomworks New Fair Deal Rally outside the US Capitol.jpg|thumb|Congressman Pompeo at FreedomWorks New Fair Deal rally outside the U.S. CapitolU.S. CapitolPompeo 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.NEWS,weblink Pompeo: No rape exception in anti-abortion view, Roxana, Hegeman, Associated Press, The Topeka Capital-Journal, October 24, 2012, November 30, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171201045114weblink">weblink December 1, 2017, dead, In 2011, he voted for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, 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.Prohibiting forced abortions by UN Population Fund {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418112945weblink|date=April 18, 2020}} On the issues. Retrieved October 6, 2019.He opposes same-sex marriage and sponsored bills to let states prevent same-sex couples from marrying.NEWS,weblink Pompeo tells Kamala Harris he won't discriminate against LGBT workers at the CIA, Curtis, Tate, The McClatchy Company, January 13, 2017, November 30, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171201040746weblink">weblink December 1, 2017, live, WEB,weblink Mike Pompeo still opposes gay marriage. Now he's about to be secretary of state., nbcnews.com, April 13, 2018, April 16, 2018,weblink April 16, 2018, live, Pompeo was instrumental in the development of the anti-abortion Geneva Consensus Declaration.WEB, Trump's Legacy Is a Global Alliance Against Women's Rights, Southern, Nathan Paul, Kennedy, Lindsey, Foreign Policy, 20 January 2021, 26 January 2021,weblink

Economy

Pompeo supported the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, blaming President Obama. He said he believed the shutdown was necessary to avoid an "American financial collapse 10 years from now".NEWS,weblink Pompeo: For the GOP, shutdown is now about reforming entitlement programs, Wilson, Bill, The Wichita Eagle, October 2, 2013, March 5, 2014,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20140408213327weblink">weblink April 8, 2014, dead,

International Criminal Court

Pompeo continued a non-cooperative policy towards the International Criminal Court in The Hague, enacting sanctions against the ICC's chief prosecutor and other officials in September 2020.NEWS, 2020-09-02, International Criminal Court officials sanctioned by US,weblink 2024-03-25, BBC News, en-GB, 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.Haley S. Anderson, Randle De Falco: Pompeo's Personal Stake in the International Criminal Court's Afghan Investigation, justsecurity.org, June 3, 2020Haley S. Anderson: Why Them? On the U.S. Sanctions Against Int'l Criminal Court Officials, justsecurity.org, September 2, 2020

Personal life

(File:Mike Pompeo family.jpg|thumb|Mike Pompeo (center) with wife Susan and son Nicholas in 2018)Pompeo married Leslie Libert in 1986. The couple later divorced. He then married Susan Justice Mostrous in 2000 and formally adopted her son, Nicholas.NEWS,weblink Trump advisers: The faith factor, McFarlan Miller, Emily, December 13, 2016, Religion News Service, Winston, Kimberly, November 30, 2017,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20171201040135weblink">weblink December 1, 2017, live, NEWS, Graff, Garrett, October 24, 2019, Pompeo Was Riding High—Until the Ukraine Mess Exploded,weblink Wired (magazine), Wired, June 19, 2021, Pompeo is affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.NEWS,weblink Eastminster church decides to break from denomination, kansas, March 13, 2018, en,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180314042828weblink">weblink March 14, 2018, live, NEWS,weblink Mike Pompeo's Wichita church calls for prayer over confirmation process, The Wichita Eagle, Burgess, Katherine, April 22, 2018, April 19, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180422070117weblink">weblink April 22, 2018, live, Pompeo served as a local church deacon from 2007 to 2009 and taught Sunday school.WEB,weblink 5 faith facts about Mike Pompeo: A divisive devotion, Jenkins, Jack, April 19, 2018, Religion News Service, en-US, July 15, 2019,weblink July 15, 2019, live, In 2014, Pompeo told a church group that Christians needed to "know that Jesus Christ as our savior is truly the only solution for our world".WEB, Price, Greg, Watch: Mike Pompeo faces 'no more war' protest during first confirmation hearing for Secretary of State,weblink Newsweek, April 12, 2018, April 27, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180427084938weblink">weblink April 27, 2018, live, In 2015 in a talk at a church, Pompeo said that "politics is a never-ending struggle{{spaces}}... until the Rapture."WEB, Michelle, Goldberg, This Evil Is All Around Us,weblink Slate (magazine), Slate, The Slate Group, San Francisco, California, January 12, 2017, April 27, 2018,weblink" title="web.archive.org/web/20180427005626weblink">weblink April 27, 2018, live, In an interview with Fox News 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 said that Pompeo's history of misleading statements cast further doubt on his claims.WEB, Mike Pompeo says he lost over 90lb – but experts are skeptical about his fitness journey,weblink the Guardian, 15 August 2022, en, 11 January 2022,

Foreign honors

• {{flagicon|Taiwan}} Order of Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon (2021)WEB, 總統授勳美國第70屆國務卿龐培歐 表彰其長期促進臺美關係的貢獻,weblink Office of the President (Taiwan), Office of the President, 3 March 2021, 3 March 2021, NEWS, Yeh, Joseph, President Tsai awards medal to Pompeo for enhancing Taiwan-U.S. ties,weblink 3 March 2022, Central News Agency, 3 March 2022, Republished as: NEWS, Tsai awards Pompeo special honor,weblink 5 March 2022, Taipei Times, 4 March 2021,
• {{flagicon|Albania}} Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Tirana (2022)WEB,weblink Mike Pompeo merr titullin 'Honoris Causa"' nga Universiteti i Tiranës, May 16, 2022,

See also

• Foreign interference in the 2020 United States elections
• List of members of the American Legion
• List of people who have held multiple United States Cabinet-level positions
• Timeline of investigations into Trump and Russia (2019)

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• State Department archive
• @SecPompeo

{{Commons category}}{{wikisource-author|Michael Richard Pompeo}}

• secretary of state biography
• CIA Director {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190409155419weblink |date=April 9, 2019 }} biography
• {{Curlie|Regional/North_America/United_States/Kansas/Government/Federal/US_House_of_Representatives/Former_Members/Mike_Pompeo_%5BR-4%5D}}

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• Maplight Campaign Contributions {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151002035424weblink |date=October 2, 2015 }}

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