Pompeo says Trump’s announcement won’t affect his thinking about 2024 bid
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Donald Trump’s highly touted and anticipated announcement Tuesday evening that he will run for president again in 2024 won’t have any bearing on his own thinking about a potential bid.
Pompeo, who was also CIA director during the Trump administration, said he has yet to make a decision, “but what happens today or tomorrow, what some other person decides, won’t have any impact on that.”
Pompeo said he thinks Trump, 76, will have to “explain why he thinks he should be that next president” to the American people, saying he hopes the 45th president will talk about “things that can work for them going forward.”
While he said he was “proud of the policies we laid out” in the administration, Pompeo, 58, also took a shot at his former boss during the interview on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show Tuesday.
“We need more seriousness. We need less noise. We need steady hands. We need leaders that are looking forward, not staring in the rearview mirror claiming victimhood,” he said, referring to Trump’s continued focus on his claims of rampant fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has been promoting the idea he’ll seek the 2024 Republican nomination for weeks, including while campaigning for Republican candidates running in the midterm elections.
He plugged the announcement again Tuesday morning on his Truth Social media platform.
“Hopefully TODAY will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country!” he said in a posting.
The country’s former top diplomat also had some advice for Republicans going forward.
He said Republicans have to be transparent with Americans on what they stand for and what policies they will pursue, calling for “real conversations, not hand-raising and soundbites.”
“I think the American people will actually reward that. I think they are done with celebrities. I think they’re done with noise. I think they’re looking for people who can actually deliver the things that matter to them and their kids and their families,” he added.
Pompeo said his timetable has him making a decision by spring.
“These are deeply personal decisions, and we will sort our way through. And as soon as we have figured it out, we will let the American people know, and you’ll figure it out, too, because you’ll see me in Manchester and Des Moines and South Carolina,” he said, referring to his wife, Karen, and some of the early voting states like New Hampshire and Iowa.
