NASHVILLE, Tennessee — President Joe Biden being beholden to liberal Democrats has undermined the United States at home and abroad, according to former Secretary of State and rumored 2024 Republican White House candidate Mike Pompeo.
Before Biden’s highly anticipated trip to Saudi Arabia next month, Pompeo ripped the incumbent for his empty threats after the president promised during the 2020 campaign to make the kingdom “a pariah” over the 2018 assassination of Saudi Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
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Pompeo, former President Donald Trump‘s first CIA director, repeatedly described Biden’s flip-flopping as “dangerous” because friends and foes have witnessed the commander in chief not living “up to his word,” akin to then-President Barack Obama‘s 2013 failure to respond when Syrian President Bashar Assad crossed Obama’s “red line” of using chemical weapons against his own citizens.
“That is dangerous in the specific instance but really [creates] the risk of cascading crisis,” Pompeo told the Washington Examiner.
Pompeo specifically referenced the Russia–Ukraine war and the prospect of conflict elsewhere since “world leaders no longer believe the silly narrative that ‘America is back,'” which has become a Biden catchphrase.
“It’s like a bumper sticker for foreign policy when what you really need is deterrence,” Pompeo said. “That is dangerous, and I’m very worried about what will confront us in the weeks and months ahead.”
Pompeo defended Trump’s Middle East approach and touted the Abraham Accords, the series of landmark agreements normalizing Israeli relations with its Arab neighbors.
But Pompeo dodged when asked how he would better advocate press freedoms, among other human rights, after U.S. intelligence concluded in 2018 that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s killing. Trump and Pompeo met with the crown prince in 2019 but did not mention Khashoggi.
“We understood that the murder of Jamal Khashoggi was a bad thing and that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was an incredibly important partner for American security,” Pompeo said.
As the national average cost of gasoline hovers around $5 per gallon and Biden aides make overtures to Iran and Venezuela regarding the possibility of easing oil-related sanctions, Pompeo contended Biden’s domestic energy agenda has put him “in a terrible place” due to its disincentivization of stateside production.
“They just swallowed the climate change, green, environmental storyline hook, line, and sinker, and the progressive Left now owns this White House,” he said. “This is the worst of both worlds.”
Pompeo spoke with the Washington Examiner backstage at last weekend’s Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference, an appearance that stoked further 2024 speculation.
Pompeo’s keynote address during the gathering’s black-tie gala came one day after Trump’s more free-wheeling rally-style speech. Although Pompeo received a warm welcome, the former president’s 90-minute display demonstrated his lock on a significant portion of the Republican Party’s base should he seek a second term in the White House.
Pompeo declined to confirm whether he had discussed with Trump either man’s plans for the next presidential election.
“I never talk about my private conversations with almost anyone, certainly with my former boss, but we still talk all the time,” he said. “We’re in contact.”
Pompeo reiterated that he was concentrating on the 2022 midterm cycle and securing Republican congressional power like other prospective GOP White House hopefuls, including former Vice President Mike Pence and ex-U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, as well as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Pompeo drew parallels between 2022 and 2024, asserting voters were “looking for someone that can address their needs.” Simultaneously, he did not accept an invitation to contrast himself with hypothetical rivals for his party’s nomination.
“I’m not thinking about anyone else, not another potential … I’m not thinking about that at all,” he said. “We are very busy. The demand is exceeding the supply of Mike Pompeo to go help these candidates, but we’re trying to get every place that we can.”
He added, “When we begin to restore America, I think the American people will sort through what happens in ’24. Certainly, the Pompeos will.”
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Biden is scheduled to be in the Middle East July 13-16, traveling to Israel, including the West Bank, and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi stop is for a Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan meeting. The kingdom is the current GCC leader.
