Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed President Biden’s “incompetent” Afghanistan withdrawal and his “failed” defense secretary in a fiery speech at the Republican National Convention on Thursday.
A former Trump administration official said he was “disgusted” by the chaotic US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and called the 81-year-old president’s decision to withdraw remaining US troops all at once “incompetent.”
“We destroyed ISIS and its caliphate,” Pompeo said, one of many of Trump’s accomplishments he listed in his speech at the Fiserv Forum.
“Our secretary of defense has never been absent for two weeks either,” he joked, referring to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s secret hospitalization.
“You deserve a president who doesn’t check his watch while memorializing our fallen brothers and sisters,” Pompeo told the U.S. troops. “That was disrespectful.”
Pompeo, 60, told reporters ahead of his speech at the Republican National Convention that he would be open to joining a future Trump administration if asked.
“If President Trump asks me to do that and I can assist, then I will assist in any way I can,” Pompeo told reporters at a reception for the Republican Jewish Coalition.
The former Trump administration official had considered running for president himself in 2024 but ultimately decided against it.
