Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faced off with hecklers Thursday during a speech at Yale University.
Pompeo made an appearance at a William F. Buckley, Jr. Program event, where he spoke about once being referred to as the “worst secretary of state in history” when protesters arose from their seats and began yelling back at him. The entire exchange seemed to be planned, as audience members had to register to enter the event, and one of the protesters was filming before the heckling started.
“Yeah, you’re right,” one protester said. “You are the worst secretary of state in history.”
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While the protester was immediately met with boos, he continued to claim that the policies Pompeo instituted as secretary of state were “the reason that we’re currently headed towards nuclear war with Russia and China.” Staff, including Yale Secretary and Vice President for University Life Pilar Montalvo, eventually escorted that protester out, only for another to stand up and accuse the former secretary of state of killing Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force leader Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a 2020 drone strike.
“We saved countless lives,” Pompeo responded to the screaming protester.
Pompeo continued to try to talk over the yelling, at first expressing his gratitude that “young people could exercise their First Amendment rights” but then scolding them for committing an “enormous disservice to colleagues and peers” with their disruptions.
“It’s too bad that they didn’t come and listen and make an argument instead of noise,” Pompeo said. “They just wanted to scream. … That’s not the finest traditions of our country.” His commentary was met with applause in the room.
“You are the deep state that Donald Trump was trying to purge,” the final protester, the one assigned with filming the interaction, yelled before he was escorted out. The video would later be uploaded to a YouTube channel titled “Dont Extradite Assange Campaign.”
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The Yale student newspaper confirmed that all three protesters weren’t students or staff at the university, but claimed to be part of the leftist LaRouche movement, which, according to its website, has a mission “to stop the perpetual regime change wars, and to roll back the surveillance state which had been created in the wake of 9/11,” among other things. It is named after Lyndon LaRouche, a former presidential candidate who was ultimately convicted of tax evasion, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit mail fraud.
The auditorium where Pompeo addressed the audience was full, according to the William F. Buckley Jr. Program, with over 1,700 registered.
