Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo can’t make any sense of former President Donald Trump‘s claim that he would personally end the Russia-Ukraine war within 24 hours of negotiation.
Pompeo, who served during the Trump administration as secretary of state and the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), has been at odds with his former boss since they both left office in January 2021. There has been some speculation that Pompeo may challenge Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, although he has not officially announced a run.
Pompeo dismissed Trump’s claim of being able to easily end the war in Ukraine during an interview with Fox News host Martha MacCallum on Tuesday. He was asked whether the war could be “solved within one day” after being shown a clip of Trump telling Fox personality Sean Hannity about a “very easy” but secret negotiation technique that he would use to abruptly end the conflict.
“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Pompeo responded.
Pompeo went on to say that the Trump administration had been “able to deter” Russian President Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine, although he failed to mention Trump by name and said that the feat had been accomplished “while I was secretary of state.”
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The former secretary of state also offered partial praise for President Joe Biden‘s policy of sending aid to Ukraine during its war with Russia, saying: “I applaud the Biden administration for getting that part of it right,” while criticizing the administration for being too “slow and fearful.”
Trump has suggested slowing or stopping aid to Ukraine instead of ramping it up. The former president repeatedly claimed this year that he would be able to somehow end the conflict quickly through negotiation, despite there being no recent indications that Russia and Ukraine are both willing to negotiate.
During his interview with Hannity on Monday, Trump said he was “100 percent sure” that he would “fix” the war if he wins the 2024 presidential election. He argued that the conflict never would have happened had he remained in the White House, due to Putin knowing “not to mess around with” him.
Trump announced his third bid for the White House in November. Shortly before, Pompeo indicated that Trump’s candidacy would not impact his own decision on whether to run for president. He has since gone on to make a number of negative comments directed at the former president.
Pompeo said during a speech at a Republican Jewish Coalition event in November that a “personality” and “celebrity” is not what the GOP needs, seemingly in reference to Trump. He warned Republicans against following “celebrity leaders” and “those with fragile egos who refuse to acknowledge reality” during a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference on March 4.
During a Fox News interview one day later, the former secretary of state said that “President Pompeo or any conservative president” would have done a better job at handling the country’s debt than Trump, while expressing doubts that the former president was a “true conservative leader.”
Newsweek has reached out via email to Trump’s office for comment.
