How Tucker Carlson blocked 'warmonger' from becoming Trump's defense secretary
Tucker Carlson claims former CIA director plotted to assassinate Julian Assange
By Charlie Spiering
Daily Mail
Dec 18, 2024
Tucker Carlson publicly criticized Pompeo as a 'criminal' that belonged in jail
Tucker Carlson successfully lobbied President Donald Trump to keep his former Secretary of State and CIA director Mike Pompeo out of his second administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump's
decision to block Pompeo from his administration demonstrates his
willingness to trust non-traditional media sources and outsider
confidants rather than establishment figures with experience in
government.
Pompeo, a four-term congressman from Kansasm was
first in his class at West Point, and a graduate of Harvard Law
University before entering the Trump administration in 2017 as the
director of the CIA.
Trump shifted Pompeo to the State
Department in 2018 after the disappointing tenure of former Exxon CEO
Rex Tillerson, the president's first choice to lead the department.
Carlson has long been a public critic of Pompeo, in particular because of his reported attempt to assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.
'Mike
Pompeo, who is a very sinister person, the worst, and I always thought
that and I've told Trump that, never should have let him run CIA or
State,' Carlson said in a podcast interview with TV star Roseanne.
The story of Pompeo's efforts against Assange were first reported by Yahoo News in 2021, based on 'conversations with more than 30 former U.S. officials.'
Carlson, who urged Trump to pardon Assange, continued hammering Pompeo even after he left office.
'Mike Pompeo tried to have him murdered,' Carlson said, and added, 'Why is Mike Pompeo not in prison?'
Pompeo,
Carlson repeated, would repeatedly flatter Trump to get him to trust
him and his advice on foreign policy, which was that of a committed
pro-war neo-conservative.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wanted to return to work in Donald Trump's administration
'Mike Pompeo, I saw it up close, and I saw it intimately close, is a liar and a flatterer,' he said.
Carlson
also grew wary of Pompeo after the former CIA director's lawyers
contacted him after he spoke about the John F. Kennedy assassination on
his Fox News show.
'I spoke to someone
who seen the documents two years ago and I got one fact out of them,
which is yes the CIA was involved,' Carlson said during a 2024 interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. 'I thought that was news, so I went on TV and said that.'
'His
lawyer called me and said, you know, you should know that anyone who
tells you the contents of classified documents has committed a crime,'
Carlson continued. 'He's threatening me.'
Carlson
also blamed Pompeo for convincing Trump not to release the full
investigative files of the JFK assassination to the public.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference
'Mike Pompeo is the one who pressed Trump to keep those documents secret,' Carlson said to
Rogan. 'Pompeo did that. I think Pompeo is a really sinister person and
a criminal. I think that. I think that because the facts suggest that
he was caught.'
Carlson told Rogan that Pompeo 'fully expects to become the Secretary of Defense' and called the idea 'completely insane.'
'Why would you give a criminal nuclear weapons?' he asked.
While
he was still at Fox, Carlson also criticized Pompeo for escalating
tensions with Iran after Trump killed Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani
in a drone strike.
'It seems like about 20 minutes ago, we
were denouncing these very people as the Deep State and pledging never
to trust them again without verification,' he said in a 2020 Fox News segment. 'Now for some reason we do seem to trust them implicitly and completely.'
Carlson
was one of many high-profile critics of Pompeo's views on foreign
policy that Trump took to heart as he began drafting officials to serve
in his cabinet.
Billionaire Silicon
Valley investor David Sacks also opposed Pompeo, noting that the former
Trump official was determined to expand NATO and escalate the conflict
with Russia for launching a war with Ukraine.
'He's dangerously out of step with President Trump's views,' Sacks wrote before ultimately deleting his post on X.
Sacks also criticized an Wall Street Journal op-ed penned by Pompeo about the best way to proceed on the war in Ukraine.
'This is not a peace plan; it's a way to start WW3,' Sacks wrote bluntly.
Comedian Dave Smith, a libertarian, also voiced his criticism of Pompeo after Trump won the election.
'The
"stop Pompeo" movement is great but it's not enough. Right now we need
maximum pressure to keep all neocons and war hawks out of the Trump
administration,' Smith wrote. 'They have had their time at the table and
brought nothing but disaster to the world and this country.'
Smith's
political influence has exploded in recent months after Rogan endorsed
him as someone who 'actually knows what he's talking about.'
US Secretary of States Mike Pompeo listens as US President Donald Trump speaks at a press briefing
Silicon Valley investor David Sacks also opposed Mike Pompeo rejoining the administration
Donald Trump Jr. publicly agreed with Smith and indicated he would follow up with his father.
'Agreed 100%!!! I'm on it,' he wrote.
Hours later Trump announced on social media that Pompeo would not be invited back.
'I
will not be inviting former Ambassador Nikki Haley, or former Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo, to join the Trump Administration, which is
currently in formation,' Trump wrote.
Pompeo
was clearly angling for a position in Trump's second administration,
even attending a rally with him in Pennsylvania before the election.
At the rally, Trump praised Pompeo as a 'great guy' and urged him to 'stand up' to be recognized.
But after Trump publicly announced Pompeo would not be invited back, he expressed his disappointment on social media.
'Mr.
President - I was proud to work with you too. As you said, when we were
together last week, you and I built the plan that made the world safer
& led to no new wars,' he wrote on X.
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