Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed President Biden’s “incompetent” Afghanistan withdrawal and his “lost” secretary of defense in a fiery GOP convention speech Thursday.
The ex-Trump administration official said he felt “disgusted” by the chaotic US exit for Afghanistan, calling the 81-year-old president’s decision to pull out all remaining US forces at the same time “incompetent.”
“We destroyed ISIS and its caliphate,” Pompeo said, one of the many Trump accomplishments he rattled off in his remarks at the Fiserv Forum.
“We never lost our secretary of defense for two weeks either,” he quipped, referring to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s secret hospital stay.
“You deserve a president that will not check his watch while honoring your fallen brothers and sisters,” Pompeo said, addressing US service members. “It was indecent.”
Pompeo, 60, told reporters ahead of his RNC speech that if asked, he would serve in a future Trump administration.
“If President Trump asked me to to do it, and I can help, I’ll pitch in however I can,” Pompeo told reporters at a Republican Jewish Coalition reception.
The former Trump administration official had considered a 2024 White House run of his own, but ultimately decided against it.
