Mike Pompeo

Mike Pompeo
File:Mike Pompeo official CIA portrait.jpg
70th United States Secretary of State Nominee
Taking office TBD*
President	Donald Trump
Deputy	John Sullivan
Succeeding	Rex Tillerson
6th Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
Incumbent
Assumed office January 23, 2017
President	Donald Trump
Deputy	Gina Haspel
Preceded by	John O. Brennan
Succeeded by	Gina Haspel (nominee)
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas's 4th district
In office January 3, 2011 – January 23, 2017
Preceded by	Todd Tiahrt
Succeeded by	Ron Estes
Personal details
Born	Michael Richard Pompeo (1963-12-30) December 30, 1963 Orange, California, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Susan Pompeo
Children	1
Education	United States Military Academy (BS) Harvard University (JD)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1986–1991
Rank	[[File:|24px]] Captain
Unit	2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division
Battles/wars	Gulf War
*Pending Senate confirmation

Michael Richard Pompeo (born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, businessman, and attorney who, since April 2018, served as the 70th United States Secretary of State.

Previously, he was the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency since January 23, 2017, following his nomination by President Donald Trump. Previously, he was the member of the United States House of Representatives for Kansas's 4th congressional district (2011–17). He was a member of the Tea Party movement within the Republican Party. He was a Kansas representative on the Republican National Committee and member of the Italian American Congressional Delegation.

On March 13, 2018, Trump announced his intention to nominate Pompeo as the new United States Secretary of State, succeeding Rex Tillerson after March 31, 2018.

Education, and early career

Pompeo was born in Orange, California, the son of Dorothy (née Mercer) and Wayne Pompeo. His father was of Italian ancestry. His paternal grandmother was born in Caramanico Terme. In 1982, Pompeo graduated from Los Amigos High School in Fountain Valley, California, where he played power forward on the basketball team. In 1986, Pompeo graduated first in his class from the United States Military Academy at West Point where he majored in Mechanical Engineering.

From 1986 to 1991, Pompeo served in the U.S. Army as an Armor Branch Cavalry Officer, reaching the rank of Captain. He served as a United States Cavalry officer patrolling the Iron Curtain before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He also served with the 2nd Squadron, 7th Cavalry in the 4th Infantry Division in the Gulf War.

In 1994 Pompeo received a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School, where he was on the 81-member Board of Editors of the Harvard Law Review. After graduating, he worked as a lawyer for Williams & Connolly.

Business career

In 1998 Pompeo moved to Wichita when he and three other West Point graduate friends, Brian Bulatao, Ulrich Brechbuhl, and Michael Stradinger, acquired three aircraft part makers companies in Wichita (Aero Machine, Precision Profiling, B&B Machine) and one in St. Louis (Advance Tool & Die) and renamed it Thayer Aerospace (named for West Point founder Sylvanus Thayer). Venture funding for the private organization came a 2% investment from Koch Industries as well Dallas-based Cardinal Investment and Bain Capital (Pompeo's friend Brechbuhl worked for Bain at the time). Brechbuhl and Stradinger left the company shortly after it was founded but Pompeo and Bulatao continued until 2006. In 2017, when Pompeo became head of the CIA, he named Bulatao as Chief Operating Officer (a position which Pompeo renamed from its earlier name of executive director).

In 2006 he sold his interest in Thayer to Highland Capital Management. The announcement said clients of the firm included "Lockheed Martin, Gulfstream Aerospace, Cessna Aircraft, Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems, Raytheon Aircraft and others". It was renamed Nex-Tech Aerospace.

Pompeo became president of Sentry International, an oilfield equipment company, which was also a partner with Koch Industries.

U.S. House of Representatives

Official portrait for the 112th United States Congress

Elections

2010

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas, 2010 § District 4

In the 2010 Kansas Republican primary for the 4th District Congressional seat, Pompeo defeated State Senator Jean Schodorf (who received 24%), Wichita businessman Wink Hartman (who received 23%), and small business owner Jim Anderson (who received 13%). State Senator Dick Kelsey also ran for the nomination, but ended his campaign before the August primary and endorsed Pompeo. Late in the primary, Schodorf began to surge in the polls, prompting two outside groups—Americans for Prosperity and Common Sense Issues, an Ohio-based political group—to spend tens of thousands of dollars in the final campaign days to attack Schodorf and support Pompeo.

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). During the campaign, Pompeo sparked controversy when his campaign's Twitter account shared, then later deleted, a blog post calling his Indian-American opponent a "turban topper" and then-President Barack Obama an "evil Muslim communist."

During the campaign, Pompeo received $80,000 in donations from Koch Industries and its employees.

2012

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas, 2012 § District 4

In his 2012 re-election bid, Pompeo defeated Democratic nominee Robert Tillman by a margin of 62%–32%.

File:US congressional delegation at HISF 2014.jpg

US congressional delegation at Halifax International Security Forum 2014

2014

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas, 2014 § District 4

Pompeo won the general election, defeating Democrat Perry Schuckman with 66.7% of the vote.

2016

See also: United States House of Representatives elections in Kansas, 2016 § District 4

Pompeo beat Democrat Daniel B. Giroux in the general election with 60.6% of the vote.

Committee assignments

Pompeo served on the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and the following three subcommittees: the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Digital Commerce and Consumer Protection, the United States House Energy Subcommittee on Energy, and the United States House Intelligence Subcommittee on the CIA. He was also on the United States House Select Committee on Benghazi.

CIA Director

On November 18, 2016, President-elect Donald Trump announced that he would nominate Pompeo to be the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 23, 2017, with a vote of 66–32, and sworn in later that day.

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. Pompeo honored the then-Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammad bin Nayef with the CIA's "George Tenet" Medal. It was the first reaffirmation of Saudi Arabia–United States relations since Donald Trump took office in January 2017.

In August 2017, Pompeo took direct command of the Counterintelligence Mission Center, the department which helped to launch an investigation into possible links between Trump associates and Russian officials. Former CIA directors expressed concern since Pompeo is known to be an ally of Donald Trump.

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.

On 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". In the interest of saving the committee's time, Coons decided to vote "present", as the vote would have been tied if he had voted no on the nomination with Isakson absent, a situation that would have nullified his vote. The Senate floor vote took place on April 26 and Pompeo was confirmed by the full Senate by a 57–42 vote, with five of ten Democratic senators running for reelection in 2018 in states that Trump won in 2016, voting to confirm Pompeo. Of those Democrats who voted for his confirmation, four lost their 2018 elections: Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Bill Nelson of Florida and Claire McCaskill of Missouri. Only Joe Manchin III of West Virginia was reelected. The campaign spokesperson for McCaskill's challenger, Josh Hawley asked, "Will Senator McCaskill ignore her liberal donors and support Mike Pompeo for Secretary of State, or will she stick with Chuck Schumer and continue to obstruct the President?" "It is deeply troubling how focused Senator McCaskill is on doing what's politically convenient, instead of doing what's right."

Confirmation process
Voting body	Vote date	Vote results
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations	April 12, 2018	11–9
Full Senate	April 23, 2018	57–42

Tenure

File:Mike Pompeo and Kim Jong Un (2) (slight crop).jpg

Pompeo with Kim Jong-un

Pompeo was sworn in on April 26, 2018. In testimony before the senate, he promised to prioritize improving the low-morale issue at the State Department.

Pompeo played a major part in the negotiations leading to the 2018 North Korea–United States Summit, and attended the summit at Singapore on June 12, 2018. Following the summit he led the US party in further negotiations between the sides, leading to the return of the remains of US soldiers from Korea, and held several meetings with high ranking North Koreans, including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in Pyongyang.

In August 2018, Pompeo thanked Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman "for Saudi Arabia's support for northeast Syria's urgent stabilization needs". Pompeo and Crown Prince also discussed the situation in war-torn Yemen.

Pompeo condemned the military crackdown by the Myanmar Army and police on Rohingya Muslims. In July 2018, Pompeo raised the issue of Xinjiang re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in China. Pompeo criticized Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his refusal to condemn the Chinese government's repressions against the Uyghurs.

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Pompeo with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, April 29, 2018

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". 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 ... I am confident that the Lord is at work here."

File:Secretary Pompeo Meets with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (30421982117).jpg

Pompeo with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman on October 18, 2018

On November 16, 2018, a CIA assessment was leaked to the media that concluded with "high confidence" Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammad bin Salman 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.

On January 7, 2019, Pompeo began a diplomatic tour of the Middle East to assure regional U.S. partners that, amid the sudden withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria, the U.S. mission to degrade and destroy the Islamic State and to counter Iranian influence in the region had not changed. The trip included stops in Jordan, Iraq, Egypt, and the Gulf nations. During the tour the secretary upheld America's alliance with the Arab States and Israel, commended the successful fight against ISIS and radical Islamic terrorists and countered Iranian influence in the region.

File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed (48759132577).jpg

Pompeo with Abu Dhabi crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Pompeo 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. After protests for over "homophobic, racist and misogynist remarks" by Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, a ceremony hosted by the Brazilian-American Chamber of Commerce was canceled. It was set to award Pompeo and Bolsonaro for "fostering closer commercial and diplomatic ties between Brazil and the United States".

File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Russian President Putin (33974455218).jpg

Pompeo and Vladimir Putin met in Sochi on May 14, 2019.

On May 14, 2019, Pompeo met for three hours with Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and for 90 minutes with Russian President 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 stated that he brought up and Putin again denied Russian election interference.

In October 2019, the State Department web site promoted a speech by Pompeo "On Being a Christian Leader," which he delivered to a Christian group 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 find it disrespects the separation of church and state in the U.S. government. He also created the Commission on Unalienable Rights, and created a faith-based employee affinity group that includes contractors.

Pompeo defended the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria, 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.

In November 2019, Pompeo said the U.S. no longer views Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank as a violation of international law.

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."

In January 2020, the Trump administration 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. On the day of the strike, U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo asserted the attack was ordered by Trump to disrupt an "imminent attack" by Soleimani operatives, although subsequent reports on that rationale were mixed.

On January 25, 2020, Politico reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ended an interview with NPR All Things Considered's Mary Louise Kelly abruptly on January 24 and called her to private quarters where he admonished her for asking questions regarding Ukraine during the interview.

On Pompeo's recommendation, Trump fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick in May 2020. Linick had recently begun a watchdog investigation into Pompeo's alleged abuse of using a political appointee to perform tasks for him and his wife. The IG also investigated Pompeo's role in the Trump administration's decision to declare an "emergency" to bypass a congressional freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Prior to his firing, Linick had requested an interview with Pompeo, which Pompeo had declined. After Linick's firing, it was also revealed that he had found that a top Pompeo aide had likely failed to report allegations of workplace violence. Pompeo denied that he sought to fire Linick in retaliation.

File:Secretary Pompeo Meets with Sudanese Prime Minister Hamdok (50267519563).jpg

Pompeo with Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, in Khartoum, Sudan, on August 25, 2020

In May 2020, NBC News reported that—during his tenure as Secretary of State—Pompeo had hosted about two dozen tax-payer funded "Madison dinners" at the State Department Headquarters building (Harry S. Truman Building) for hundreds of elite attendees. More than half of the invitees to these events were from the corporate world, politics or government. Every invited congressional member was a Republican. Only 14% of the invitees were diplomats or foreign officials, which raised questions as to whether the dinners served any foreign policy purpose. State Department officials raised internal concerns that the dinners 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 praised Trump-brokered peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates as an "enormous" step forward on the "right path". 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, "...the lack of any additional public commitments during Secretary Pompeo's regional tour looks like an anti-climax," adding that "it is possible that a lack of clarity on the US commitment to deliver F-35s to the UAE could have also played a part in slowing a second wave of normalisation".

In the aftermath of the 2020 United States presidential election amid legal challenges pursued by the Trump administration, Pompeo, when questioned whether there would be a 'smooth transition' into a Biden administration, responded, "[t]here will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration".

Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump

Main article: Impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump

Further information: Trump–Ukraine scandal

File:Secretary Pompeo Meets With Ukrainian Foreign Minister Prystaiko (49469750023).jpg

Pompeo with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko in Kyiv, January 31, 2020

When asked about his knowledge of the controversial call made by President Trump on July 25, 2019, to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in which Trump solicited assistance in investigating the son of former vice president and presidential candidate Joseph Biden, Pompeo initially said he had little knowledge of Trump's call with Zelenskiy since he had not yet read the transcript of the call. It was later confirmed by officials that he himself had been on the call.

Pompeo informed the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the 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'." The three chairmen stated on October 1, 2019, "Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress—including State Department employees—is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry."

William B. Taylor Jr., 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.

In 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 Zelensky committing Ukraine to look into corruption issues, and that Giuliani "specifically mentioned the 2016 election (including the DNC server) and Burisma as two topics of importance to the President." Sondland said they kept the leadership of the NSC and State Department, including Pompeo, informed about their activities, and that as late as September 24, Pompeo was still telling Volker to talk with Giuliani.

An October 23, 2019, Freedom of Information Act (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 participated in Giuliani's activities relating to Ukraine. Pompeo and Giuliani exchanged emails and phone calls in late March 2019, before Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch was recalled from Ukraine. The documents also showed that the State Department had deliberately deceived Congress about the rationale for Marie Yovanovitch's removal as Ambassador to Ukraine. Giuliani later admitted he had spoken to Pompeo on the phone in late March 2019 "to relay information he had gathered during his Ukrainian research." Upon Pompeo's request, he then provided him memos of his interviews of two former Ukrainian prosecutors. Giuliani said he later heard that the details of the memos were passed on to the State Department Inspector General (IG) and the F.B.I. for investigation.

On November 26, 2019, Pompeo appeared to grant legitimacy to a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine, rather than or in addition to Russia, was behind interference in the 2016 United States elections. He had been asked by a reporter "Do you believe that the U.S. and Ukraine should investigate the theory that it was Ukraine and not Russia that hacked the DNC emails in 2016?" Pompeo responded "Any time there is information that indicates any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down," adding, "to protect our elections, America should leave no stone unturned."

COVID-19 pandemic

Pompeo said the U.S. government is trying to determine if the COVID-19 virus emanated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. On April 23, 2020, Pompeo claimed that China had denied U.S. scientists permission to enter the country, in an effort to ascertain the origin of the current pandemic. He did not give details of any requests for such visits. On May 13, 2020, Pompeo made a swift visit to Israel for his first trip overseas since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.

During a spike in case and death numbers in the pandemic, Pompeo hosted large indoor holiday parties involving hundreds of guests, as well as alcohol and food. The parties violated public health guidance and were described as superspreader events. They also violated Washington D.C.'s restrictions on sizable indoor gatherings. At the same time, the State Department was advising its employees not to have in-person gatherings. Photos from the event showed attendees not wearing masks consistently. In mid-December 2020, hundreds of invitees rejected invitations to go to one of Pompeo's parties. A day later, Pompeo cancelled the final holiday party after he had come in contact with a COVID-19 positive individual.

2019 emergency arms sale

In May 2019, Mike Pompeo announced an “emergency” to push through $8.1 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 and eventually a probe by former State Department inspector general Steve Linick, who was fired by the Trump administration on Pompeo's recommendation. On August 10, 2020, the US State Department reported that Pompeo took proper procedures in declaring the “emergency”. However, the statement issued by the department failed to fully assess the humanitarian impact of selling the weapons to the two Gulf countries, which had been using American bombs to wage a devastating war in Yemen, killing thousands of civilians.

Republican National Convention speech

On August 25, 2020, Pompeo recorded a speech during an official diplomatic visit to Jerusalem, during the Republican National Convention, in support of the incumbent and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. 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. In response, a spokesperson for the State Department said that the department was not bearing any of the costs of the speech, and that Pompeo was conducting the speech in his "personal capacity", although the Oversight Subcommittee Chairman, Joaquin Castro said that the speech was "highly unusual and likely unprecedented" and that "it appears that it may also be illegal." On August 28, 2020, Eliot Engel, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee announced that the committee would be drafting a resolution holding Pompeo in contempt, saying that "he has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the constitution provides to prevent government corruption." It was confirmed on October 26 that the Office of the Special Counsel had launched a probe into Pompeo's speech.

Potential 2020 U.S. Senate bid

Main article: 2020 United States Senate election in Kansas

Following an announcement that U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, a four-term Republican, would not seek re-election in 2020, there was speculation that Pompeo would run for U.S. Senate from Kansas. He still had almost one million dollars in his congressional campaign account as of June 2019, which could be used in a Senate bid. In March 2019, Pompeo said he had ruled out a 2020 Senate run although he implied an openness to seeking statewide office in the future. In July 2019, Pompeo "appeared to re-open the door to a Kansas Senate run, telling a Kansas City radio station that he will 'always leave open the possibility that something will change'". Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has expressed a desire for Pompeo to enter the race. On July 29, Pompeo indicated that a 2020 Senate run was "off the table".

Nevertheless, speculation continued to swirl in August 2019 regarding a potential Senate run. The speculation was driven by concern that Kris Kobach, who lost the 2018 Kansas gubernatorial race, could become the GOP candidate for U.S. Senate if Pompeo does not run. Specifically, some Republicans feared Kobach would "again tap a conservative base, emerge from a crowded primary, alienate moderate voters and lose an otherwise safe seat that Republicans likely need to maintain their narrow Senate majority". Several other Republican candidates, including state Senate President Susan Wagle, Congressman Roger Marshall, and former Trump, Pompeo, and Koch network staffer Alan Cobb, the CEO and President of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce in 2019, have said they would step aside if Pompeo entered the race.

On October 29, 2019, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez filed a complaint about Pompeo's repeated trips to Kansas, calling for review of whether Pompeo was engaging in political activity while traveling in an official capacity on taxpayer funds and thereby violating the Hatch Act of 1939. Menendez's complaint referenced a Wall Street Journal article saying that during his visit to Kansas, Pompeo met with GOP donor Charles Koch to discuss the Kansas senate race.

In an interview on November 22, 2019, Trump discussed Pompeo's interest in running for Senate from Kansas. Trump said that in their discussion, Pompeo explained he would prefer to stay in his job as Secretary of State and would only leave the Trump administration and run if it were necessary to keep a Republican seat in the Senate.

Efforts to recruit him into the race continued through the June 1 filing deadline, but he ultimately did not file. The general election was won by Republican US Representative Roger Marshall.

Political positions

File:Mike Pompeo by Gage Skidmore 2.jpg

Pompeo speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C.

File:Mike Pompeo by Gage Skidmore.jpg

Pompeo speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

Military and national security

Surveillance

Pompeo supports the surveillance programs of the National Security Agency, referring to the agency's efforts as "good and important work".

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."

Terrorism

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. The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on him to revise his remarks, calling them "false and irresponsible".

Prisons

Pompeo opposes closing Guantanamo Bay detention camp. 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."

He criticized the Obama administration's decision to end secret prisons and its requirement that all interrogators adhere to anti-torture laws.

North Korea

Pompeo desires regime change in North Korea. 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."

Iran

Pompeo worked to undermine the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal with Iran that was supported by the Obama administration. Referring to the agreement, he stated, "I look forward to rolling back this disastrous deal with the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism." He also stated that 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."

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 nuclear deal. Obama administration officials acknowledged the existence of agreements between Iran and the IAEA governing the inspection of sensitive military sites but denied the characterization that they were "secret side deals", calling them standard practice in crafting arms-control pacts and arguing the administration had provided information about them to Congress.

Israel

In November 2015, Pompeo visited Israel and stated that "Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a true partner of the American people" and that "Netanyahu's efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons are incredibly admirable and deeply appreciated". He also stated that "In the fight against terrorism, cooperation between Israel and the United States has never been more important" and that "[w]e must stand with our ally Israel and put a stop to terrorism. Ongoing attacks by the Palestinians serve only to distance the prospect of peace".

Russia

During his confirmation hearing, Pompeo stated that Russia "has reasserted itself aggressively, invading and occupying Ukraine, threatening Europe, and doing nearly nothing to aid in the destruction and defeat of ISIS".

Syria

Pompeo accused President Obama of inviting Russia into Syria.

WikiLeaks

In a 2017 speech addressing the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Pompeo referred to WikiLeaks as "a non-state hostile intelligence service" and described founder Julian Assange as a narcissist, fraud, and coward.

... we can no longer allow Assange and his colleagues the latitude to use free speech values against us. To give them the space to crush us with misappropriated secrets is a perversion of what our great Constitution stands for. It ends now ... Assange and his ilk make common cause with dictators today. Yes, they try unsuccessfully to cloak themselves and their actions in the language of liberty and privacy; in reality, however, they champion nothing but their own celebrity. Their currency is clickbait; their moral compass, nonexistent. Their mission: personal self-aggrandizement through the destruction of Western values.

Edward Snowden

In February 2016, Pompeo said Edward Snowden "should be brought back from Russia and given due process, and I think the proper outcome would be that he would be given a death sentence". But he has spoken in favor of reforming the Federal Records Act, 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."

In March 2014, he denounced the inclusion of a telecast by Snowden in the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, and asked that it be cancelled, predicting that it would encourage "lawless behavior" among attendees.

Energy and environment

Speaking about climate change in 2013, Pompeo said: "There are scientists who think lots of different things about climate change. There's some who think we're warming, there's some who think we're cooling, there's some who think that the last 16 years have shown a pretty stable climate environment."

He has stated, "Federal policy should be about the American family, not worshipping a radical environmental agenda." He has referred to the Obama administration's environment and climate change plans as "damaging" and "radical". He opposes the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions by the United States, and supports eliminating the United States federal register of greenhouse gas emissions.

Pompeo signed the No Climate Tax pledge of Americans for Prosperity.

He has called for the permanent elimination of wind power production tax credits, calling them an "enormous government handout".

In December 2015, 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.

On May 9, 2013, Pompeo introduced the Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act. The bill would have required the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to approve or reject any proposal for a natural gas pipeline within 12 months. The bill passed the House of Representatives along party lines but was not voted on in the Senate.

Healthcare

Pompeo opposed the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Pompeo has been criticized for saying that he supports funding for certain programs that are part of the ACA, yet he opposes them when they are a part of the ACA.

Social issues

Pompeo has stated that life begins at conception and believes that abortions should be allowed only when necessary to save the life of the mother. In 2011 he voted for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which would have banned federal health coverage that includes abortion. Also in 2011, he voted for a prohibition on funding the United Nations Population Fund.

He opposed same-sex marriage and had sponsored bills to let states prevent same-sex couples from marrying.

Miscellaneous

Pompeo supported the United States federal government shutdown of 2013, blaming President Obama. He stated that he believed the shutdown was necessary to avoid a predicted "American financial collapse 10 years from now".

He is a lifetime member of, and has been endorsed by, the National Rifle Association.

Pompeo opposes requiring food suppliers to label food made with genetically modified organisms. He introduced the Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015 to block states from requiring mandatory GMO food labeling.

He sponsored the Small Airplane Revitalization Act of 2013.

Ideology

Pompeo is a Christian religious conservative whose beliefs inform his politics. He spoke at length of how religion informs his political ideals on video at the Summit Church God and Country Rally 2015. In that speech he approvingly quoted the Robert Russell/Joseph Wright prayer which contained "We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle." In his own words, he said "We are engaged in a struggle against radical Islam, the kind of struggle that this country has not faced since its great wars."

Personal life

Pompeo is married to Susan Pompeo and has one son, Nicholas. He attends Eastminster Presbyterian Church, affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, where he serves as a Deacon and teaches the fifth-grade Sunday school class.

External links

• CIA Director Mike Pompeo
• Mike Pompeo at DMOZ
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Maplight Campaign Contributions

United States House of Representatives
Preceded by Todd Tiahrt	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kansas's 4th congressional district 2011–2017	Succeeded by Ron Estes
Government offices
Preceded by John O. Brennan	Director of the Central Intelligence Agency 2017–present	Incumbent