PrairiePundit

 Just the News: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the Ayatollah's days are numbered and urged President-elect Trump to embrace the MEK "resistance" to fast-track the Iranian regime’s fall. "The United States and the pressure campaign will return, making the regime even more fragile," Pompeo said during a speech at a conference in Paris, referencing Trump's second term. "You, the resistance. You are on the right path," he added. The MEK’s leader Maryam Rajavi attended the event with Pompeo and offered similar remarks. Pompeo said the resistance movement in Iran has "shown the incredible capacity and resilience to end the regime's brutality." "And you've exposed much of the regime's nuclear sites, details of Iran's nuclear weapons and missile program and the world owes great debt for all of this hard work," he said. "The resistance has been willing to pay a very real and serious price...

 DC Daily Journal: ... The FBI is looking for an Iranian intelligence operator who reportedly plotted to assassinate current and past U.S. government leaders, including Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State under President Donald Trump. Last week, the Bureau’s Miami field office issued a public notice seeking information on Majid Dastjani Farahani, who is suspected of working for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to Semafor. The FBI issued a Most Wanted warning for Farahani, 42, on Friday, stating that he knows Farsi, French, Spanish, and English and frequently travels between Iran and Venezuela. According to the FBI, Farahani was recruiting “individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials” as part of a revenge operation for the U.S.’s assassination of Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani in 2020 under Trump and Pompeo. Semafor said that U.S. sources said Pompeo and...

 DC Daily Journal: The political temperature in the country is reaching a boiling point. Anything could happen next. And now this Trump assassination attempt has the FBI on red alert. The FBI is looking for an Iranian intelligence operator who reportedly plotted to assassinate current and past U.S. government leaders, including Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of State under President Donald Trump. Last week, the Bureau’s Miami field office issued a public notice seeking information on Majid Dastjani Farahani, who is suspected of working for Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, according to Semafor . The FBI issued a Most Wanted warning for Farahani, 42, on Friday, stating that he knows Farsi, French, Spanish, and English and frequently travels between Iran and Venezuela. According to the FBI, Farahani was recruiting “individuals for various operations in the United States, to include lethal targeting of current and former United States Government officials” as part of a reve...

 NY Post: FBI hunting for Iranian spy who allegedly plotted assassination of Mike Pompeo, other US officials ...  Soleimani directed a network of militias that targeted American troops in Iraq, and had more “American blood on his hands” than any terrorist since Osama Bin Laden, a heavily redacted 2021 Department of Justice report on the Baghdad airstrike that killed him said. ... The US took out Soleimani after he assisted Iranian operations against US troops. 

 Mike Pompeo: As Americans rang in the new year, regimes hostile to the United States made clear just how much President Biden has let US deterrence decay. In his end-of-year press conference, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his commitment to subjugating Ukraine in his effort to rebuild the Soviet Union — emphasizing, “The level of our ties with China is at an all-time high.” North Korea’s Chairman Kim Jong Un laid out his plan to accelerate nuclear-weapons production in 2024, saying conflicts elsewhere compelled his nation to “sharpen the treasured sword.” And amid Iran’s multifront attacks on the Jewish state, the ayatollah’s officials declared America “will not be spared” if Israel’s campaign to eliminate Hamas continues — and we’ll be “faced with extraordinary problems” if we oppose Houthi disruption of commercial shipping in the Red Sea. Four years ago, such statements would have been rightly seen as mere bluster. Kim had stopped long-range-missile testing, Iran wa...

American Action News: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted the FBI for its unprecedented raid on the home of former President Donald Trump on Monday night. Pompeo noted that the home of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was never raided by the federal government, even during the height of the Benghazi investigation. ... The House Benghazi Committee released an 800-page report in June 2016 which claimed several damning actions or inactions regarding the terrorist attack that murdered four Americans in the Benghazi compound in Libya on September 11, 2012, including U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. Among the claims: The State Department headed by Clinton knew the Benghazi compound was undermanned; requests for increased security at Benghazi were either ignored or outright refused by the department; political concerns delayed the Obama administration’s response to the attack, and that Clinton and others in the Obama administration parroted the false narrative that t...

 Washington Examiner: ... As  the national average cost of gasoline  hovers around $5 per gallon and Biden aides make overtures to  Iran  and  Venezuela  regarding the possibility of easing  oil -related  sanctions , Pompeo contended Biden's  domestic energy agenda  has put him "in a terrible place" due to its disincentivization of stateside production. "They just swallowed the  climate change , green,  environmental  storyline hook, line, and sinker, and the progressive Left now owns this  White House ," he said. "This is the worst of both worlds." ... The Biden administration apparently has no one as smart as Pompeo when it comes to energy.  They have really screwed up. 

 DailyWire: ... “You could have predicted this. The moment you said we’re going to shut down American energy, we’re not going to have leases – not only in Alaska but on federal land – the moment you made it somehow feel icky to be a participant in the fossil fuels supply chain you knew these prices were going to come,” Pompeo said. “It will have enormous implications for the American economy.” The former secretary of state added that the nation’s energy problems are due to political decisions rather than a lack of oil or other resources. “The American leadership, Joe Biden, made the political decision to shut in American energy when we were nearly energy independent and he said don’t loan to them, don’t buy their stock, don’t bank for them, don’t talk to them, don’t deal with them,” Pompeo told host John Catsimatidis. “He shut them all in, as if the internal combustion engine was no longer necessary.” Pompeo warned that the shortages Americans are currently facing could extend far...

 National Review: ... The agreement Pompeo signed in Doha in February 2020 established a U.S. withdrawal deadline of May 2021 — provided the Taliban met a series of conditions. Making a complete break from al-Qaeda was among them. Critics of the deal have said that it was naïve in the extreme to accept the Taliban’s word that they would break with al-Qaeda, considering their deep historical ties, and have argued that negotiating directly with the Taliban undermined and demoralized the Afghan government. According to former CIA counter-terrorism chief Doug London , Pompeo ignored politically inconvenient intelligence reports which predicted the current reality on the ground: as of June, al-Qaeda maintained a presence in 15 Afghan provinces, according to a United Nations report . However, having served as CIA director before taking over as secretary of state, Pompeo says he was very aware of intelligence reports that al-Qaeda was still deeply engaged in Afghanistan when he signed th...

NY Times: Trump Ousted State Dept. Watchdog at Pompeo’s Urging; Democrats Open Inquiry The lawmakers said Steve Linick, the State Department’s inspector general, had opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s conduct. Democrat appointed IG's have for the most part been used as part of the Democrats on going coup attempts against the President.  The only one who is worthy of any respect is the DOJ, IG who uncovered the coup attempt inside his department and the abuse of the FISA court in service of a coup attempt.  Horowitz actually did a fairly decent job in exposing corruption by the FBI and DOJ.  The intel IG changed the rules to facilitate a coup attempt by Trump haters.  If this IG was going to pursue similar issues, he deserved to be fired.

Washington Post: State Dept. inspector general fired as Democrats decry ‘pattern of retaliation’ The firing of Steve Linick is the latest in a string of weekend removals of oversight officials who clashed with the Trump administration. The House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman said Linick was fired after opening an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. What non-Democrats see is a pattern of using these guys to unfairly attack the administration.  They have been a part of the deep state Democrat effort to undermine administration policies and attack the President and his appointees.  They are being used in the Democrats bad faith response to losing the 2016 election.

NY Times: Pompeo Faces Political Peril and Diplomats’ Revolt in Impeachment Inquiry The secretary of state has been drawn deeply into the Ukraine affair, with a parade of his diplomats testifying. He is sticking by the president. The diplomats, in this case, look like they would be better off doing something else if they are not willing to follow lawful orders.  If they are not willing to cooperate in an investigation of corruption they deserved to be terminated.  Pompeo is doing the right thing.  Good riddance to those who should have resigned if they disagree with the President's policies. It is unfortunate to see the NY Times still sticking with the Ukraine hoax after they were already burned by the Russian hoax.  It is like they are letting their Trump hatred overwhelm their common sense.

NY Times: Pompeo Defends Trump’s Ukraine Conspiracy Theory In Athens, the American secretary of state dismissed the House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry and the political drama that it has sparked as a “silly gotcha game.” The Democrats are acting in bad faith in their latest coup attempt concocted after their first one, the Russian collusion hoax cratered.  It is being pushed and embraced by the "True Believers" of the first one.

Washington Examiner: Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro lacks “the legal authority” to expel American diplomats, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday. “The United States does not recognize the Maduro regime as the government of Venezuela,” Pompeo warned in a statement. “Accordingly the United States does not consider former president Nicolas Maduro to have the legal authority to break diplomatic relations with the United States or to declare our diplomats persona non grata.” Maduro ordered the departure of American officials earlier Wednesday after President Trump announced his support for a leading opposition figure who has claimed the constitutional authority to supplant the socialist strongman. Trump backed Maduro’s ouster by affirming that National Assembly President Juan Guaido stands as the interim president of the country, days after the lawmaker declared Maduro’s inauguration invalid and invoked a constitutional provision authorizing him to assume the presidency ...

NY Times: Pompeo Nears Confirmation but Faces Historic Rebuke From Committee With the backing of Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Mike Pompeo looks assured to become secretary of state, but the Foreign Relations Committee may withhold its support. Pompeo has done a good job at the CIA and easily more intelligent than Hillary Clinton or John Kerry.  He appears to be doing a good job on working on a deal with the North Koreans.  Democrats just do not want to admit how bad their policies have been during the Obama years.

Washington Post: Pompeo’s critics offer grudging praise for North Korea meeting The revelation that Mike Pompeo has already been carrying out high-level diplomacy could help President Trump's pick for secretary of state win some Democratic support in his confirmation process. Both Pompeo and Trump deserve more than grudging praise for their efforts with North Korea.  This is especially true of Democrats who have been critical of their handling of the belligerent country from the beginning.   Trump has been effective in demonstrating the downside for North Korea in not doing a deal.  That is something past administration have not been effective at doing.

NY Times: Trump Picks Raise Alarm Over Ties to Anti-Islam Groups Mike Pompeo is Mr. Trump’s pick to be the next secretary of state, and John R. Bolton is the choice for national security adviser. Civil rights groups are concerned. That some people reject the head in the sand approach to dealing with radical Islam does not make them smarter or less dangerous.  In fact, it ignores the danger of radical Islamists true believers, who find support in the text of Islamic writings for their desire to kill Jews and anyone else who does not embrace their weird beliefs.  That is clearly not the same as saying all Muslims are potential mass murderers.  But it does not ignore the motivations of some to become one.