MILWAUKEE – 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 – letting the Taliban takeover – “incompetent.”
“We destroyed ISIS and its caliphate,” Pompeo said, one of the many Trump administration 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.”
The former Cabinet official also suggested that Biden is no longer fit for office, let alone serve another four years as president.
“Joe Biden can’t handle that 3 a.m. phone call. Indeed he won’t take a phone call after 4 p.m.” Pompeo said.
Pompeo, 60, went on to criticize Biden over his handling of the southern border, calling the present situation, in which hundreds of thousands of migrants are allowed to enter the country illegally every month “a massive national security challenge.”
“Our southern border is a welcome mat,” the former secretary of state said bluntly.
“It’s a welcome mat for Islamist terrorists, drug dealers, Chinese spies and violent criminals,” he argued.
“President Biden sold out our citizens and our security and our sovereignty and we need to get it back,” Pompeo declared.
The ex-CIA director expanded on the threats posed by illegal border crossings in comments ahead of his RNC speech.
“I can’t tell you what day, but if you continue to allow thousands of illegal migrants to come across our southern border every day, some number of them will be bad actors driven here by governments that want to destroy our way of life,” he warned during a Republican Jewish Coalition event in Milwaukee.
“Somebody will come across here with the capacity and intent to conduct terror on America,” Pompeo added.
He revealed to reporters at the RJC event that he would serve in a future Trump administration – if asked.
“If President Trump asked me to do it, and I can help, I’ll pitch in however I can,” Pompeo said.
The former Trump administration official had considered a 2024 White House run of his own, but ultimately decided against it.
“This decision is deeply personal and ultimately we decided that the time is just not right,” he said last year of his decision not to run.
At the RJC event, Pompeo touted Trump’s support of Israel and his handling of Iran during his four years in the White House.
“When it comes to actual execution of policy, I was part of a team that was really going about protecting American sovereignty, putting our country first and supporting our friends and allies like Israel and Europe,” Pompeo said of his time in the Trump administration. “And I’m confident the next four years of President Trump if he gets re-elected — I hope he will be — will be more of the same.”
“There is no reason to think that that trajectory would be any different,” he added.