There is growing speculation that former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo may run for president in 2024, and in a recent interview with Fox News, Pompeo didn’t rule out the possibility, saying “I’m always up for a good fight.”
Fox News host Martha MacCallum asked Pompeo about his upcoming trips to Iowa, Texas and Nebraska, saying, “I have to ask you about your upcoming trip to Iowa and what it says about your future intentions, Secretary.”
“It’s pretty clear,” Pompeo responded. “I’m going to work to continue to build the conservative movement and the Republican Party. That same trip is going to take me to Texas on behalf of a candidate, to Omaha on behalf of a congressional candidate and do party building work in Iowa.”
Pompeo added, “I’ve said all along, I’m up for the fight, to continue to build out Republican success. 2022 will be an important election cycle. I am to be an important part of making sure that we’re successful in that election.”
Asked if former President Donald Trump decided not to run again to retake the White House in 2024, if Pompeo would consider running, Pompeo said, “It’s way too early to tell, I’m very focused here on what we’re doing in the near term” but added, “I’m always up for a good fight.”
MacCallum responded saying she would take Pompeo’s answer as “not a ‘no’ but not a ‘yes'” to which Pompeo chuckled in response.
Pompeo graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served as a tank platoon leader in the U.S. Army. Pompeo went on to serve as a Republican congressman for Kansas and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), before becoming the 70th U.S. Secretary of State.
As secretary of state, Pompeo led efforts to reimpose United Nations sanctions on Iran over its violations of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.
Pompeo also took confrontational stances against several policies of the Chinese Communisty Party (CCP). Last summer, Pompeo declared Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China, and in the last days of Trump’s term, declared China’s mass internment of Muslim ethnic minorities in Xinjiang an act of genocide.
China frequently criticized Pompeo and in his last day in office, China imposed sanctions on Pompeo and 27 other U.S. officials from the outgoing Trump administration.
Since leaving office, Pompeo has criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of various foreign policy issues, including relations with China.
Speaking with MacCallum on Wednesdays, Pompeo said, “I want to make sure the ideas I’ve been working on for a good part of my adult life are the ones that are advanced here in the United States of America, not those being imposed on the United States by this administration.”
