Trump: Pompeo would run for Kansas Senate seat if GOP in danger of losing it
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would run for a Senate seat from Kansas if the Republican party were to lose, President Donald Trump says.
One day after Pompeo's spokesperson denied that he was planning to resign to run for the Senate, Trump said Friday he would agree with the plan if his party were close to nominating "somebody out there that couldn't win."
Speaking to the Fox News morning program "Fox and Friends" on Friday, Trump said, "He came to me and said, 'Look, I would rather stay where I am,' but he loves Kansas. He loves the people of Kansas. If he thought that there was a chance of losing that seat, I think he would do that, and he would win in a landslide."
The news of his plan first came to light on Tuesday after a report showed Pompeo had talked about the matter with three prominent Republicans.
However, on Thursday, State Department spokesperson Morgan Ortagus said, "I spoke to the secretary, and he said this story is completely false. He is 100% focused on being President Trump's Secretary of State."
Pompeo’s initial plan had been to stay in office at the State Department until early spring next year, according to the Tuesday report.
However, the report noted, recent political developments, including Trump’s ongoing impeachment inquiry over the Ukraine scandal, were hurting Pompeo and that he wanted to exit sooner.
The report also said the House impeachment inquiry, which involved a few senior US diplomats, had put stress on his relationship with Trump.
The three prominent Republicans noted that as impeachment hearings gained momentum, Pompeo was faced with a dilemma: support the boss, or the staff.
On the one hand, the longer he stayed, the greater the criticism of his failure to defend the senior diplomats implicated in the Ukraine scandal.
Trump and his loyalists were angered at Pompeo for the damning testimony against the Republican president given by the senior diplomats involved in the scandal and demanded Pompeo’s strong support of the president.
Last month, the president criticized the secretary by name, tweeting that Pompeo “made a mistake” when he rehired retired diplomat William Taylor.
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