Mike Pompeo doesn't rule out 2024 White House bid — even if Trump runs



Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Friday that he has not ruled out running for Republican presidential nominee in 2024 — even if his former boss, President Donald Trump, makes another White House bid that year.

What are the details?

During an interview with Fox Business' "WSJ at Large," host Gerard Baker asked Pompeo, "Are you seriously pondering a run in 2024 for the Republican nomination?"

"Just like every day, I'm going to go work for the set of policies that I've been working on all my life, including these last four years as CIA director and then secretary of state," Pompeo replied.

"I think America first makes an awful lot of sense," he continued. "We've got to do that here at home as well."

Pompeo went on to say, "What happens electorally in '22 matters an awful lot. I'm going to go work to help good conservative candidates be elected, and then we'll consider whether 2024 is an opportunity for me to go back to elected office or not. I love the fight, Gerry."

Baker then asked, "If President Trump runs again — and all indications are that he may — would you run against him?"

"That's a long way off," Pompeo responded, "I don't think any of us have figured out what we're doing 2024." But the former secretary of state left the possibility open, adding, "We'll make make those decisions another time."

Former Secretary of State @SecPompeo not ruling out a presidential run in 2024, even if it’s against… https://t.co/rWXNhvr8Yv
— WSJ at Large (@WSJ at Large)1618605940.0

Speculation about Pompeo running has ramped up in recent weeks after he traveled to Iowa and made a number of stops at GOP gatherings, in what CNN called "an unofficial but unsubtle step into the 2024 presidential race."

Pompeo declared on the March 26 trip, "We're in Iowa after all — the first-in-the-nation primary." Iowa is the first state to caucus, and the first primary is then held in New Hampshire.

Anything else?

Pompeo also hit the news Friday after the State Department's inspector general's office released the findings of its investigation into allegations that the former secretary of state and his wife, Susan Pompeo, instructed State Department staff to perform personal tasks for the couple on the taxpayer's dime.

Politico obtained the report, which found "over 100 requests to Department employees" by the Pompeos "that are inconsistent with the Standards of Ethical Conduct for Employees of the Executive Branch or raised questions about the proper use of Department resources."

Examples of tasks carried out by State Department employees for the Pompeos allegedly included addressing and mailing their Christmas cards, booking hair appointments for Mrs. Pompeo, planning non-government-affiliated events and setting up restaurant reservations for the family.

The outlet reported:

Mike Pompeo, in an interview with investigators, insisted that the requests were often small and the types of things friends do for friends. His lawyer, William Burck, slammed a draft version of the report he received as a politically biased "compilation of picayune complaints cherry-picked by the drafters."
The inspector general's office, however, defended the investigation, noting that many of the rules governing such interactions are clear, do not make exceptions for small tasks, and that the Pompeos' requests ultimately added up to use a significant amount of the time of employees paid by taxpayers.

Lawyer Lin Wood says State Bar of Georgia is requiring him to take a mental health exam to keep his law license



Pro-Trump attorney Lin Wood said Thursday that the State Bar of Georgia has demanded he participate in an examination of his mental health in order to keep his law license.

Wood, who has been an outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen, has already been hit with social media bans and the loss of at least one client after a number of social media posts calling for the execution of former Vice President Mike Pence.

What are the details?

Earlier this month, Wood was issued a permanent suspension from Twitter and had posts removed from Parler, which was later shut down entirely by Amazon over allegations that the platform did not do an adequate job of moderating posts.

The lawyer is now expressing his views on London-based app Telegram, where he told his followers in a post:

"I am fighting battles on every front. The State Bar of Georgia told me today they would demand a mental health exam from me if I wanted to keep my law license. My mind is sound. I have broken no rules. I asked what I had done wrong, I was only told it was about my social media comments. My speech.

I try to live a principled life. There is no basis for the Bar's demand. But am I choosing my battles carefully?"

Wood said that he does "not believe God has brought me this far to stop fighting now," before saying that he would turn off his phone for 12 hours and spend time in prayer over what to do next.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Nick Sandmann—the former Covington Catholic High School who went viral for a video showing him in a face-off with a Native American man in 2019—fired Wood despite the attorney successfully winning defamation settlements for teen from major media outlets.

Weeks prior, Sandmann publicly condemned Wood for a tweet he sent prior to his lifetime ban.

Wood wrote, "If Pence is arrested, @SecPompeo will save the election. Pence will be in jail awaiting trial for treason. He will face execution by firing squad. He is a coward & will sing like a bird & confess ALL."

To that, Sandmann replied, "I'm sorry but what the hell," adding later, "this is a dumb tweet."

In another post removed by Parler before the site was deplatformed, Wood wrote, "Get the firing squads ready. Pence goes FIRST."

Wood also said last week that his alma mater, Mercer Law School, "turned" on him, amid reports that the school was considering removing his name from its trial court over his rhetoric despite his $1 million gift to the institution.

Nick Sandmann fires pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood, says he 'no longer' wishes 'to be represented by him'



Nick Sandmann has fired fellow Trump-supporter Lin Wood, who represented the Kentucky teenager in defamation lawsuits against several media outlets after a 2019 video went viral showing the then-Covington Catholic High School student in a face-off with a Native American man in Washington, D.C.

What are the details?

Reuters reported Monday that Sandmann said in a court filing, "I have ended my lawyer-client relationship with Mr. Wood and no longer wish to be represented by him."

The outlet reported:

Wood did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement shared on the Telegram app on Sunday, Wood said he expected Sandmann would "abandon" him because of earlier social media posts in which Wood suggested former Vice President Mike Pence engaged in "treason" and could "face execution by firing squad" for formally recognizing the election victory of President Joe Biden.
Wood said in the Telegram post that his comments about Pence were "rhetorical hyperbole."

Earlier this month, Wood tweeted, "If Pence is arrested, @SecPompeo will save the election. Pence will be in jail awaiting trial for treason. He will face execution by firing squad. He is a coward & will sing like a bird & confess ALL."

Sandmann replied, "I'm sorry but what the hell," adding later, "this is a dumb tweet."

Your definition of loyalty is equivalent to being blackmailed to support something that I disagree with. True loy… https://t.co/hTk9xWFR0S
— Nicholas Sandmann (@Nicholas Sandmann)1609568482.0

Hot Air noted at the time:

It was nearly one year ago when high school student Nick Sandmann and his attorney Lin Wood reached a settlement with CNN in the $275 million defamation case against the network. The exact amount of the settlement was never released but attorney Lin Wood said he was just getting started. Then in July the Washington Post also settled the $250 million defamation suit Sandmann had brought against them. Again the exact amount of the settlement was never revealed and again Lin Wood pointed out there were still more lawsuits to go against CBS, NBC, ABC, the NY Times, Gannett and Rolling Stone.

Wood, who famously represented falsely accused security guard Richard Jewell from allegations of his involvement in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing, is an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and insists that the 2020 election was stolen from the former president.

Following the Nov. 3 general election, Wood and fellow Trump-supporting-lawyer Sidney Powell urged Georgians to boycott the Jan. 5 runoff elections in the state over concerns for voter integrity, angering Republicans who lost control of the Senate due to the outcome.

A New Yorker staff writer reported last week that Mercer Law School, Wood's alma mater, is facing pressure to remove Wood's name from its trial court room over his rhetoric and that "Wood says he wants his million dollar gift back if they do."

Over the weekend, Sandmann shared a social media post written by Wood where the attorney wrote, in part:

My alma mater Mercer Law School turned on me. I have suffered politically motivated attacks on my law license and my previously pristine record of professionalism. I have been threatened by others to take efforts to have me jailed and prosecuted for a rhetorical hyperbolic post about Mike Pence. No client had abandoned me but I expect Nicholas Sandmann may do so as he be feeling the pressure from members of [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell's team on which Nicholas worked this cycle. I have had serious threats of harm and death made against me and my family. My family has abandoned me. But I am not alone. I have We The People who have showered me with messages which inspire me and comfort me. In the end, my efforts have always been for We The People. Until and unless they silence me by imprisonments or death, I will not stop fighting for We The People, for honest elections, for freedom, and for the hundreds of thousands of little children who are being abused, molested, and sacrificed for the demonic pleasures of very evil people in the world - including leaders in our government.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slaps down NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell: 'Do some reporting.'



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took aim at a veteran NBC journalist over her musings on Twitter that he might have been acting inappropriately over his speech in Georgia.

Andrea Mitchell hinted that Pompeo was being hypocritical when he brought up former secretaries of state to defend his scheduled speaking engagement in Georgia during a very heated campaign for the U.S. Senate seats from the state.

.@SecPompeo to speak in Georgia ahead of Senate runoffs. Political? He says “When Sec. Kerry traveled to Massachuse… https://t.co/GVeA3im0tB
— Andrea Mitchell (@Andrea Mitchell)1607480938.0

Mitchell quoted Pompeo as saying, "When [former] Sec. [John] Kerry traveled to Massachusetts or Sec. [Hillary] Clinton traveled to NY those were coastal elite states. Those were all fine for secretaries to travel to."

She added, "Huh? That's where their families lived."

Pompeo didn't take kindly to the rebuttal to his argument and he fired off a tweet accusing Mitchell of poor journalism and offering another explanation for his trip.

"Andrea - Do some reporting. When I went home to Kansas to see family, your network was howling saying I was violating the Hatch Act," tweeted Pompeo.

Andrea - Do some reporting. When I went home to Kansas to see family, your network was howling saying I was violati… https://t.co/iE1K45ZOCw
— Secretary Pompeo (@Secretary Pompeo)1607520578.0

"The claims were found to be bogus. This trip was planned long before the Georgia runoff. Do some reporting," he added.

Mitchell responded to the tweet but did not address the substance of his criticism.

"Mr. Secretary thank you for finally answering one of my questions!" she tweeted.

Pompeo was defending his speech on Wednesday at the Georgia Institute of Technology about the threat to the U.S. from China. He mirrored the assessment from Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe in an op-ed that China was focused on dominating the globe economically, politically, and militarily.

Many foreign policy experts expect that U.S. policy will soften against China when President Donald Trump vacates the Oval Office.

Here's Pompeo's speech about the threat from China:

Pompeo discusses China's challenge to US securitywww.youtube.com

Democrats outraged over Mike Pompeo's RNC speech delivered from Jerusalem



Democrats are expressing fury over Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's planned address to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, accusing the nation's top diplomat of violating norms and possibly even the law by engaging in a partisan event.

What are the details?

According to The Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told MSNBC that it was "appalling" for Pompeo to have recorded his speech in Israel while on official government business, saying that doing so is in violation of State Department rules prohibiting employees from participating in partisan activities.

"Now he's doing just that thing," Pelosi said of Pompeo, "and then, of course, really sadly, discoloring our bipartisanship in terms of our support for Israel, which has always been bipartisan, and we always want it to be."

She argued, "This image is something that's going to say, look at us, we're here in Israel making a speech to the Republican National Convention, violating our values in terms of the bipartisanship and our support of Israel, violating in many ways what he told his own employees."

Politico reported that earlier this year, Pompeo signed off on an internal email to employees from Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun "that urged them to look at a handful of legal memos that laid out an updated set of limitations on the political activity of U.S. diplomats and other State staffers."

One of the legal memos had the following phrase highlighted: "Senate-confirmed Presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event."

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's deputy campaign manager and communications told The Hill in a separate report, "Secretary Pompeo's decision to address the Republican Convention from Jerusalem isn't just an abuse of taxpayer dollars, it undermines the critical work being done by the State Department."

The outlet noted that a State Department spokesperson told them Monday "that no department resources would be directed toward Pompeo's address and no staff have been involved in preparing for the speech."

According to NBC News, diplomats were "aghast" at the news of Pompeo's slated address to the RNC, with one telling the outlet, "It's all just shredding the Hatch Act" which is a law that bars government employees from political activities "on the job or in their official capacities."

House subcommittee plans to investigate

Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro (Texas), who heads up the subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has launched an investigation into Pompeo giving the RNC speech.

The congressman tweeted Tuesday, ".@SecPompeo's participation in the #RNCConvention during the course of official @StateDept work is not only unacceptable, but appears that it may also be illegal. I've launched a @HouseForeign investigation."

.@SecPompeo’s participation in the #RNCConvention during the course of official @StateDept work is not only unaccep… https://t.co/8mVmEOV6q9
— Joaquin Castro (@Joaquin Castro)1598385176.0