Trump Says Pompeo ‘Absolutely Not Leaving’ Cabinet For Senate Race

President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Photo by Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty Images)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is “absolutely not leaving” the Cabinet even as top Republicans make a pitch for him to run for the Senate in Kansas.

Pompeo, who served four terms in the House and was Trump’s CIA director before moving to the State Department, avoided the subject altogether in a tweet he sent following Trump’s comments.

The decision by longtime Republican Sen. Pat Roberts to retire has prompted an effort by other GOP senators to recruit Pompeo for 2020. He’s said that push has included a call from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Trump tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” that McConnell may have spoken to Pompeo but “I asked him the question the other day. He says he’s absolutely not leaving. I don’t think he’d do that. And he doesn’t want to be lame duck.”

Pompeo tweeted that it’s true he loves serving as “America’s most senior diplomat. I love it because I get to lead the great men and women of (the State Department) who bust their tails every day to proudly deliver American values and American diplomacy to every corner of the world. #Swagger.”

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. I guess I’m curious how terrified they are of Trump if they’re raiding his cabinet for candidates this way.

  2. Much easier to trigger the rapture as SOS, so he’s sticking around.

  3. This came from Spanky, so it is obviously a lie and Pompeo will be running for the Senate in 2020.

  4. I would say this is a good thing for Kansas voters. Now they can have Kobach make another run for political office.

  5. Yeah he’s leaving because he knows you’re an idiot. And doesn’t Donald say something like this shortly before everyone that’s left him?

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

4 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for txvoodoo Avatar for sysprog Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for inversion Avatar for lastroth Avatar for dickweed Avatar for greenman66 Avatar for atldrew Avatar for rascal_crone

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: