Opinion
Pompeo: Federal government unions should be eliminated and workers made at-will
“There should be no government unions. It's just not, it's a non sequitur. They should have rules there where they work at will, just like every other employee, they should be terminable.”
Opinion
Pompeo: John Bolton published classified details on ongoing Trump administration diplomacy
“Fair enough to tell stories after the president's gone, but I was still dealing with these leaders, and he's, John Bolton's out telling stories that I believe had classified information about ongoing decision making.”
Disclosure
Pompeo: Not sure I left State Department materially better
“I must say, Joe, I, 70,000 people, a thousand days. I'm not sure I left that place materially better than where I began. We did a lot, but we had to work around and through what was the most resistant, unaccountable bureaucracy, the one that I've ever been a p…”
Opinion
Pompeo: State Department hiring should focus on merit, not DEI
“And so the State Department training and hiring program needs to be fundamentally redone, focused on mission, not on diversity, equity, and inclusion, but based on pure merit.”
Opinion
Pompeo: Prospective military recruits seek mission execution rather than equity or climate initiatives
“When you are now saying, Hey, you know what? We're going to make sure your vehicles are all carbon neutral and we're going to guarantee you a safe space. Like that is not what a kid who's thinking about joining the military is looking for. They want to go do m…”
Assertion Partly supported
Pompeo: Congress repeatedly rejected State Department budget cuts from $70B to $45B
“We proposed a budget, Joe, about two-thirds of the State Department budget think Forty five billion instead of seventy billion. And each year, both Republican and Democrats alike on Capitol Hill said, nope, we're going to give you a seventy billion.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pompeo: Kim Jong-un walked away from agreed terms in Hanoi
“Chairman Kim kind of walked away from what we understood he had agreed to, what he had told me himself.”
Opinion
Pompeo: Kim Jong-un directly answers to Xi Jinping
“As powerful as Chairman Kim is, he still answers to Xi Jinping in China pretty directly.”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Pompeo: Internal opposition and late timing prevented Trump's TikTok ban
“Oh, a little bit of bureaucracy, and then frankly you had senior leaders in the administration who didn't want to close the deal out. There were a couple of us advocating for it, and we ran into a buzzsaw, and then there was, we were a little late, Joe, to be …”
Opinion
Pompeo: State Department rules prevented merit-based promotion and resource allocation
“The State Department is fundamentally different than that. Three unions, civil service rules. You couldn't promote based on merit, right? You couldn't allocate resources. You'd get appropriate funds. You couldn't allocate resources on a risk-adjusted basis”
Disclosure
Pompeo: Trump administration foreign policy prioritized exiting Afghanistan and deterring Russian European invasion
“In Afghanistan, we wanted to get out. In Russia, we wanted to make sure their thousand nuclear warheads were contained, and we didn't want them to invade Europe, and a longer list for the Chinese Communist Party, but we were pretty clear about our expectations…”
Opinion
Pompeo: Arming Ukraine will accelerate an unexpected diplomatic resolution
“I suspect that there will come a day when we'll all be surprised and they'll, they'll find a way to an accommodation that works for everyone there. And the only way to drive that is we ought to provide the Ukrainians with the things they're prepared to fight a…”
Prediction Open · timeframe Feb 2028
Pompeo: Saudi Arabia will likely join the Abraham Accords
“I think so. I'm praying that they all do.”
Disclosure
Trump administration pushed Israel normalization with Indonesia, Pakistan, and Malaysia
“We were less talked about as we were working with the large Muslim countries in Asia as well. We often think about Israel and the Muslim nations of the Gulf, but we shouldn't forget that Islam's biggest adherence sit in Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia places in …”
Opinion
Pompeo: Permitting Chinese spy balloon flight for five days hurt US geopolitically
“But man, the fact that that thing flew over our sovereign airspace for five days hurt us geopolitically.”
Opinion
Pompeo: WeChat poses the same security risks as TikTok for businesses
“We, WeChat presents a similar set of issues as well for companies that are using WeChat as a payment tool or communications tool.”
Opinion
Pompeo: Xi Jinping Holds Increased Leverage Over Vladimir Putin
“Having now failed, having now demonstrably been unable to execute the, at least the military and diplomatic objectives of the invasion of Europe, I think Xi has even more leverage over Vladimir Putin today. Think think energy as their sole customer, near sole …”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Pompeo: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea Axis Will Tighten
“I think we'll see more and more of that. We'll see ever closer relationships. Frankly, the iron triangle, or if you want to include North Korea quadrilateral between Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea is likely to get even tighter.”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Pompeo: Ukraine war will continue until exhaustion forces a settlement
“That's why it's still going on, and why it's my expectation. It goes on for a while, but if you read just, if you read much history, certainly history of Europe, you, exhaustion takes place, and what seems impossible on Wednesday, a month from now, two months,…”
Prediction Not checkable as stated
Pompeo: Strikes on Iranian Drone Facilities Are Only Temporary Setbacks
“The heck of the thing is, Joe, with any of these, it's temporary. They'll, they'll find a way, they'll find a workaround, they'll rebuild. They're pretty damn creative and pretty persistent.”
Disclosure
Pompeo set explicit diplomatic negotiating margins with Trump before meetings
“And so I was always incredibly diligent to say, sir, I'm going to meet with so-and-so. Here's where I think this lands. I may end up in this position that's -10%, this position that's plus five. Good to go with any of those, Mr. President. And he'd say, nope, …”
Mike Pompeo