Secretary of State Mike Pompeo doubled down on his harsh criticism of John Kerry in a wide-ranging interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham Wednesday, accusing his predecessor of trying to undermine his boss.
During a State Dept. briefing last week, Pompeo blasted Kerry for having conducted multiple meetings with Iranian officials since leaving office, saying, “What Secretary Kerry has done is unseemly and unprecedented.”
“This president has been very clear since the time he was running for office that the arrangement that the previous administration put in place was bad for America, and frankly bad for the world,” the secretary told Ingraham. He pointed out that Iran is still the world’s largest state sponsor of terror, still launches missiles, attacks embassies and consulates. Pompeo explained that once Iran stops doing those things, it can “join the community of nations.”
Pompeo responded to Kerry’s recent statement calling his criticism “unseemly and unprecedented” and “political theatrics.”
“Secretary Kerry can’t seem to get off the stage,” Pompeo told Ingraham with a chuckle. “It’s one thing to meet with your counterpart, it’s another thing to do what Secretary Kerry, Wendy Sherman, Ernest Moniz, frankly the whole gang has done, which is to actively seek to undermine what President Trump is trying to achieve.”
He added, “it’s okay to talk with them, but you have to be working for America, for American foreign policy and they’re not. They’re working for the foreign policy that is their’s, not the one that belongs to the United States.”
Pompeo noted that, unlike Kerry, when he is no longer secretary of state, he will “get off [the stage].”
Ingraham also asked the former Kansas congressman whether he supports some form of legal action against Kerry. He answered: “I’ll leave the legal action to others. I’m trying to execute America’s foreign policy and they are not only unhelpful, but they are working in ways that are harmful to achieving what’s best for the American people. That’s my criticism. Stop it. Let it go. You had your day. We think you fundamentally got it wrong with Iran, and we’re trying to make it right for America.
Pompeo also briefly responded to Project Veritas’ undercover videos showing that there is a “resistance” movement inside the State Department to thwart the Trump administration’s agenda. He said he couldn’t comment on an ongoing investigation, but added: “Rest assured, we’re aware of it and we’re taking a look at it.” The secretary added that people who aren’t down with the Trump agenda should maybe “go do something else with your time.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responds to @Project_Veritas investigation tonight on Ingraham
POMPEO: “But rest assured we're aware of it and we're taking a looking at it…
…If this is a mission on which you can't sign up for it's time to go do something else with your time.” pic.twitter.com/OUt0jKy5Ol
— James O'Keefe (@JamesOKeefeIII) September 20, 2018
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