Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that he will not run for President in 2024. After months of fueling speculation about a potential bid, Pompeo revealed in an interview with Fox News that he and his wife Susan had made a “deeply personal decision” not to run. Though he acknowledged that Americans are “thirsting for people making arguments, not just tweets,” he also took a few shots at former President Donald Trump, whose Cabinet he served in as both director of the CIA and secretary of state. Pompeo claimed that the decision not to run was not influenced by Trump, but left open the potential for a run in the future, saying that “presidential leadership becomes even more necessary.”
Pompeo toured earlier this year for his book Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love, in which he claimed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley plotted with Trump’s daughter Ivanka and his son-in-law Jared Kushner to try to become Trump’s vice president. He also launched the political group Champion American Values PAC in 2021 to support conservative candidates ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
While Pompeo was a close ally of Trump’s during his administration, he has taken veiled shots at Trump in recent months, including in his remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, in which he said, “We can’t become the left, following celebrity leaders with their own brand of identity politics — those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality.”
As the first person to have served as both director of the CIA and secretary state and a former congressman representing Kansas’ 4th District, Pompeo had been viewed as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. Though he says he is not running, it remains to be seen how his influence could play a role in shaping the race.
Read Also: Josh Hart’s Rude Comment to Donovan Mitchell’s Round 1 Hype Video: The Lighter Side of NBA Rivalries
Recommended: Clouds (Poems)