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Guy Benson: With us now is Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State and CIA Director, member of Congress, Fox News contributor, and author of Never Give an Inch. You can follow him at Mike Pompeo. He’s also announcing today the launch of CNQ Global Advisors, an independent geopolitical and strategic advisory firm. Mr. Secretary, it’s great to have you back on the show.
Mike Pompeo: It’s great to be with you again.
Guy Benson: Tell us about CNQ.
Mike Pompeo: This is an enterprise we’re building that works with companies all across the world–not just American companies, but some non-American companies as well–to help them manage risk. We’ve built a team of advisors with experience in both the business world and government, working at the intersection of those two fields. Our goal is to help companies reduce risk, make better decisions, and understand how their supply chains and business models fit into the incredibly complex global environment we face today. You can visit our website to learn more about our advisors.
Guy Benson: On the subject of making better decisions, I wish President Trump’s envoy and advisor Steve Witkoff had said something different about Vladimir Putin in a clip that went viral. Let’s listen.
Steve Witkoff: He’s a 75-year-old man. And you talk so much about my president, President Trump, being a humanitarian. You are a humanitarian also, sir. And I salute that. I commend you, and I thank you again.
Guy Benson: Saluting and commending Putin for his humanitarianism is almost literally unbelievable to me. I understand that diplomacy involves a lot of handshaking, flattery, and sometimes effusive comments intended to get something done. I take my hat off to Steve Witkoff for the important work he did helping secure the release of hostages from Hamas in Gaza. That was fabulous work.
But when does it cross a line for an American envoy to pay that kind of homage to someone like Putin, given his career and the recent bombing of civilians, including children, in Ukraine?
Mike Pompeo: I think your gut is precisely right on this. We all know Vladimir Putin is evil. He is committing terror against innocent Ukrainian children on an epic scale and has been doing so for years. In this particular case, he held this man improperly for four years. There’s nothing humanitarian about that.
Guy Benson: This was a prisoner being released, right? So this is sort of the warm and fuzzies.
Mike Pompeo: We’re thrilled that he’s back, and it’s fantastic for his family. It’s an unmitigated good thing. And you’re right: Mr. Witkoff’s work to get the people detained in Gaza back was of epic historical importance.
I also understand diplomacy. I’m sure I said a few nice things during my time as Secretary of State that I didn’t really mean.
Guy Benson: Such as, “It’s good to be back on your show, Guy.” No, go ahead.
Mike Pompeo: Exactly. No, I actually mean that! But this happened in a setting where Putin was present. I wish Witkoff hadn’t said that, because I don’t think it helps the family or the man who was held for four years to characterize that particular event and his release as humanitarian.
We know Putin is likely to detain another American. Others are currently being held, and he’ll probably grab someone else soon. This is not someone we should heap enormous praise on for doing the right thing four years too late.
Guy Benson: Before we move on from Russia, I want your assessment of the war in Ukraine and where things stand. I’ve called some of the president’s recent moves short-sighted and, to some extent, indefensible–particularly the diesel sales and waiving sanctions, including some that recently passed Congress with strong bipartisan support.
I understand the administration may be trying to address fuel costs ahead of the midterm elections. But there are other considerations, too. What’s your assessment?
Mike Pompeo: Providing a single dollar to Vladimir Putin to help him continue this war of terror against Ukraine is a terribly bad idea. It’s certainly bad for the Ukrainians and will make their lives harder this winter, but it’s bad for America as well.
The Europeans have already paid too much for Russian products. We shouldn’t enter that game, either. I hope the president will rethink this.
Guy Benson: I don’t disagree, but let’s consider the perspective of someone listening who says, “Trump might be doing this ahead of the election to alleviate some of the pain at the pump. Fuel costs are a huge issue. Maybe this could help his party and American consumers. Maybe he has our interests at heart.”
You’re saying this action actually hurts the American people and American interests. Why?
Mike Pompeo: That’s right, because it actually prolongs the conflict.
And, for full disclosure, I want Republicans to have a good election 12 days from now. That’s my team, and anything we can do to increase the probability of that seems worth considering.
But I don’t think this will do that. I don’t think it will materially change the global price of energy over the next couple of weeks. So I don’t think it will be effective.
We should instead focus on the longer term and reducing risk. Providing money and resources to Vladimir Putin only prolongs the risk the United States faces from his terror campaign in Europe.
Guy Benson: I saw a report yesterday about the hugely successful reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, with fuel shipments returning to prewar levels through that critical chokepoint.
It feels cynical to say this, but the success has been achieved by the American military under the Trump administration. Yet the media seems to have largely lost interest now that the situation is improving.
For weeks, there was constant coverage of disruptions to the global oil supply. Now that things appear to be turning around, there’s very little coverage. Some of that is simply the nature of news: when something isn’t going wrong, it may not be news. But given the previous attention to the issue, the apparent lack of interest is striking.
Mike Pompeo: I think the media is, in this sense, rooting against Donald Trump in his election. I don’t think they’re rooting against America. They want the country to succeed, but they could see that this storyline was hurting the president’s case.
I applaud the president for what he has done in Iran. This was not a war of choice. It was an effort to destroy a regime’s capacity to inflict nuclear-level trauma on the world, and he has had enormous success.
You’re right that there was breathless, minute-by-minute coverage of activity in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb. Now that our military, under President Trump’s guidance, has restored prewar levels of product moving through, the coverage has faded.
We still need to bring prices down because transportation remains expensive, but we’ll get there. President Trump has achieved an enormous amount. I’m convinced that in the weeks and months ahead, we’ll ultimately get a very good outcome, and President Trump should receive credit for that.
Guy Benson: Iran’s economy is being suffocated by the blockade and crippling sanctions from the Trump administration. The regime in Tehran is struggling. What do you think could happen next?
You never want to project an outcome onto an unpredictable situation, but tens of millions of people in Iran have suffered under this regime, and now they’re feeling the economic effects very hard. Where could this go?
Mike Pompeo: The Iranian people have known for decades that this regime wasn’t acting in their best interests, and they can see that now.
What’s underreported is the resistance we’re starting to see. We’re seeing skirmishes and other activity in parts of the country. I think that will increase as conditions become more difficult for ordinary Iranian citizens and the regime’s ability to pay the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps decreases.
We don’t know the timing, but it’s very likely that Iran will have a fundamentally different regime a year from now.
Guy Benson: Looking at Europe, particularly France, we’re seeing clashes in the streets. Some journalists describe these as student protests over educational conditions, but we’re also seeing looting and a familiar combination of left-wing Antifa groups, supported by left-wing politicians, alongside Hamas-aligned Islamist groups.
Buildings have been burned, stores looted, people beaten, and police officers attacked. These are widespread riots, not isolated incidents.
What’s going on, and do you think French citizens will continue to tolerate this? Marine Le Pen, who many once thought could never win a nationwide election, now appears to be in a strong position ahead of the next election because so many ordinary French people are disgusted by what they’re seeing.
Mike Pompeo: When political leaders refuse to perform their most fundamental task–protecting their citizens and providing security–and allow widespread vandalism, property destruction, and threats to people’s lives, a political response is inevitable.
We saw something similar in the United States after what happened in Minneapolis and in our streets. If leaders are unwilling to enforce the law and protect their borders to ensure national sovereignty, people will eventually say, “I’ve had enough of this leadership. I don’t want my children and grandchildren to suffer from this kind of chaos in my country.”
I think we’re seeing that in France and Germany, and we’ve seen the first signs of it in Italy. Interestingly, the Italian government responded very differently from the French government, and I think that will lead to different political outcomes.
People are right to demand the most basic principle: the rule of law in their country.
Guy Benson: We played a clip on this show yesterday of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, appearing on ABC News. He was asked about Israel, a subject he frequently discusses, although it’s one he seems less eager to address in the final weeks of a campaign.
His hostility toward the Jewish state was so pronounced that he couldn’t even say that Iran’s “Death to America” regime poses a greater threat to the United States than Israel does.
In his answer, he essentially told Americans that Israel isn’t a friend or an ally, that it takes our money and manipulates us into wars that serve its interests rather than ours.
I offered my own rebuttal yesterday. You’ve served at the highest levels of American diplomacy as Secretary of State and CIA Director. Based on your experience, what does Israel bring to the table that benefits the American people and American interests? What should Michiganders and other Americans understand when they hear this kind of assessment?
Mike Pompeo: This race in Michigan is probably the most important of all the close races taking place in America. I think Mike Rogers would be a great senator, and El-Sayed would be incredibly destructive to central American interests, Western civilization, and our relationships around the world.
You mentioned my time as Secretary of State, but I saw Israel’s value as CIA director as well. Israel was one of our most important security partners.
I can’t speak in great detail, but I can assure everyone listening that the Israeli government, its intelligence services, diplomats, and military saved countless American lives during my four years in the first Trump administration.
They provided intelligence that kept Americans safer, along with resources, tools, and technologies that helped our country. They’re important commercial partners for the United States, too.
We had no better ally during my four years than the nation of Israel.
People can be upset about whatever they want. But if you’re asking the central question–the one El-Sayed denies–which is whether Israel is a friend, an ally, and an important partner of the United States, I personally experienced its value to our country.
Guy Benson: Lastly, Mr. Secretary, I saw an announcement recently from Christiane Amanpour, who spent decades at CNN, saying she would be transitioning away from the network. Tributes poured in, and she seemed to offer some criticism on her way out.
I also saw your post on X about her departure. You wrote, “Thank heavens.” You said she had done the State Department dirty multiple times on your watch. I’m curious what you meant by that. Could you give us some examples?
Mike Pompeo: I’ll give you one example. There was an evening when she was scheduled to moderate an event where I was going to receive an award on behalf of the State Department for our work bringing Americans home and rescuing American detainees and hostages.
I was proud to accept that award on behalf of the State Department team that works on these issues around the clock. But she refused to participate in the event as long as I was going to be onstage.
That was indecent–not toward me, because I’m fine with that, but toward the State Department, the people who had worked on these cases, and the families of those who had been brought home through the department’s efforts and the hard work of people across the entire U.S. government.
Guy Benson: She famously interviews some of the worst despots and terrorists in the world, but she can’t be seen onstage with the American Secretary of State? I’m perplexed.
Mike Pompeo: It would appear so, Guy.
Guy Benson: All right, that’s duly noted. We appreciate the example. It sounds like there may be more, but unfortunately, we’re out of time. I’d like to hear more, frankly.
Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State and CIA Director, Fox News contributor, and author of Never Give an Inch. Follow him on social media at Mike Pompeo. He’s also announcing today the creation and launch of CNQ Global Advisors.
Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us.
Mike Pompeo: Thank you, Guy. Have a good afternoon.
