How Tucker Carlson Killed Mike Pompeo’s Hopes of Joining the Trump Administration
Former Fox News host and Donald Trump Jr. led a campaign to prevent Pompeo from getting an administration job
By Vivian Salama
Updated Dec. 18, 2024 4:06 pm ET
WASHINGTON—Shortly before the election, Tucker Carlson approached Donald Trump with an urgent plea: Mike Pompeo had to go.
Many in Trump’s inner circle believed that Pompeo, who served as secretary of state and CIA director during Trump’s first term, was the clear front-runner to be the next defense secretary. The day before the election, Trump praised Pompeo during a campaign rally, marveling at his recent weight loss and twice calling him handsome.
But to Carlson—the former Fox News host who continues to have deep influence in conservative circles—Pompeo was a risky pick. Carlson argued that he is a warmonger. He highlighted to the president-elect a list of grievances he holds against Pompeo, including what he said was an alleged plot by the then-secretary of state to assassinate WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, according to multiple people with knowledge of Carlson’s efforts. Carlson went public with the allegations about Pompeo and Assange in an April interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast, pointing to a 2021 Yahoo News story.
Trump transition-team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said the president-elect’s “cabinet picks reflect his priority to put America first,” adding that he “will continue to appoint highly-qualified men and women who have the talent, experience, and necessary skill sets” to fulfill his agenda.
In October, Pompeo told Australia’s the Nightly that the U.S. had laws that made it illegal for the government to carry out assassinations and that he complied with that law for “every moment” that he was CIA director.
Carlson and Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s eldest son, outlined what they said were the dangers of bringing neoconservatives into the administration—men and women, they claimed, who seek to control him, not serve him. They also argued that Pompeo had proven himself to be disloyal, the people said, pointing to Pompeo’s decision to distance himself from false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and comments he made that the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol by Trump supporters was “unacceptable.”
Within days of the election, Pompeo was out of the running. The president-elect posted on Truth Social that Pompeo and Nikki Haley, Trump’s former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, wouldn’t be landing jobs in his administration.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in July. Photo: brian snyder/Reuters
The effort to bar Republicans such as Pompeo from the incoming administration is the latest chapter in the remaking of the party since Trump rose to power in 2016. Several officials who served in the first term, and were hoping to serve once again, were blocked by Trump allies, including Carlson and Trump Jr., who felt they didn’t meet the test of loyalty demanded of officials in Trump 2.0.
Officials such as Haley, who challenged Trump during the Republican primary, and former national-security adviser Robert O’Brien were passed over for jobs as Trump and his team looked to stock his cabinet with “fresh blood,” as one transition official put it, who have roots in the MAGA movement.
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The perception among some within Trump’s inner circle is that appointees such as Pompeo would follow a more conventional GOP approach to national-security policy by supporting U.S. involvement in overseas conflicts, such as Ukraine, or icing out traditional adversaries, such as Russia. Pete Hegseth, a military veteran and former Fox News host whom Trump chose to lead the Pentagon, has criticized U.S. involvement in the conflict in Ukraine, and has touted a controversial view that women should be barred from combat. But Hegseth’s path to confirmation has been fraught with challenges because of a number of personal controversies.
Trump himself has bashed what he refers to as “RINOs”—short for “Republicans in Name Only.” In cementing his second term in office and a sweeping victory for Republicans across the country, Trump and his staunchest supporters have managed to reshape the party of Ronald Reagan, purging many from office who failed to meet the criteria of Trump and his MAGA faithful.
Trump Jr. told The Wall Street Journal in October that, as co-chair of his father’s transition team, his priority was “preventing the bad actors from getting in” to the next Trump administration. “There’s a lot of people that put the ‘R’ next to their name, but then they do whatever the swamp wants, because they are looking for the next consulting gig or something such as that,” he said.
That effort heavily factored into the shaping of Trump’s future cabinet. A number of prospective administration officials who have interviewed with the transition team said that in addition to the questions they were asked about their vision for respective agencies, they were asked about their views on the events of Jan. 6 and whether the 2020 election was rigged, according to several people involved in the process.
Carlson has aired a litany of grievances against Pompeo. He has told advisers to Trump that Pompeo’s lawyer threatened him after he said on his show that a source informed him that the CIA was somehow involved in the death of former President John F. Kennedy, the people familiar with the discussions said.
Following Trump’s social-media post declaring that his former secretary of state wouldn’t be returning for the second term, Pompeo wrote on X that he was proud to work with Trump, adding “you and I built the plan that made the world safer and led to no new wars.”
Trump has instead leaned in on selecting nominees who will shake things up in Washington and adhere to his unorthodox vision for reshaping the government. Hegseth’s nomination will be a test of the loyalty of Senate Republicans. Hegseth is facing allegations of sexual misconduct and excessive drinking, which he has denied.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.), whom Trump nominated for secretary of state, is expected to win bipartisan support in the Senate. But the selection of Rubio over a number of other officials considered closer to the MAGA movement, including former acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell, was met with skepticism among Trump loyalists who see Rubio as too mainstream.
Over the weekend, Trump named Grenell his presidential envoy for special missions. In that role, he will focus on Venezuela and North Korea, Trump said.
The State Department is among the agencies that is home to what is called the “deep state,” according to many Trump allies, who have accused agency staff of working against Trump’s agenda in the first term.
Rubio, Trump’s onetime political opponent and critic, has grown close with the future president and has embraced some of his more-controversial views, while steering clear of others. Last year, he released a report titled “‘Diversity Over Diplomacy’—How Wokeness is Weakening the U.S. State Department,” which said that the State Department gave priority to diversity, equity and inclusion over building international relationships and protecting America’s national security—echoing the sentiments of Trump and many MAGA Republicans.
Still, people close to the transition said Rubio’s job would be a target of MAGA Republicans, some of whom hope Trump will eventually replace him with someone whom they view as more aligned with the president-elect’s vision. The people added that Rubio’s senior staffing choices will also be heavily scrutinized if he doesn’t hire Republicans who adhere to Trump’s policy priorities.
Rubio didn’t respond to a request for comment.
