Former Trump administration official Mike Pompeo may have disappointed an unknown number of fans this week by announcing via email, “after lots of prayer and careful consideration, I’ve decided that this is not the time to run for president.” Given that Pompeo had announced the same decision back in April, it’s not clear who if anyone was holding their breath waiting to hear whether Pompeo would join the crowded GOP field.
It seems likely that Pompeo, a loyal Trump administration official, saw no upside to making an enemy of his former boss and political patron. Pompeo, who is not yet 60 years old, has plenty of time to run and good reason not to get on the wrong side of Donald Trump and his fans. He has just taken a position as distinguished chair of the Helms School of Government at Liberty University, where he previously served as a senior adviser to its Standing for Liberty Center.
Pompeo assured his supporters, however, that he has an “important plan” for the 2024 election—“ensuring the Republicans WIN in 2024.” The former secretary of state and CIA director continued to use Trump’s language, saying that his political action committee will ensure that “America is returned to its almighty glory” by electing “America First candidates.”
Pompeo’s unawaited announcement that he will not run for president this time around was wrapped in a fundraiser for his Champion American Values PAC—or CAVPAC.
If you are dedicated to helping me get America First candidates elected, I need you to rush your support to my Official 2024 Victory Fund to push Republicans to victory up and down the ballot!
Not only is it important to take back the White House, but we CANNOT afford to lose control of the House. And it’s absolutely imperative that we take back control of the Senate to reverse the radical socialist policies that the Dems have inflicted on this great nation.
Potential Pompeo donors may be interested in taking a look at CAVPAC’s Federal Election Commission filings to decide whether writing Pompeo’s PAC a check would be a good investment. For the years 2021 and 2022, the PAC raised more than $8.8 million. Of that amount, the PAC gave just under $285,000 to candidates and reported spending $200,000 on independent expenditures on behalf of five congressional candidates—a combined total of about 5.5 percent given to or spent on behalf of candidates. According to CAVPAC’s Federal Election Commission filings, the group spent nearly $2.1 in operating expenses during the first three quarters of this year, while contributing just $2,500 to a single congressional candidate.
In 2021, when Pompeo joined Liberty as a fellow, Right Wing Watch noted:
Mike Pompeo used his position as secretary of state to promote the religious right’s agenda at home and abroad. He created the Commission on Unalienable Rights—which has been repudiated by the Biden administration—to create justification for a narrow view of human rights in U.S. foreign policy. As secretary of state, Pompeo opened doors in other countries for a Bible study ministry that teaches public officials that the Bible requires them to back right-wing social, economic, environmental, and criminal justice policies. Pompeo and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar worked to create a new global “pro-family” coalition of anti-LGBTQ and anti-choice regimes and to celebrate governmental enforcement of “traditional” religious values on gender, sexuality, and family. Pompeo is a longtime religious-right favorite who, as a member of Congress, promoted Christian nationalism and associated with anti-Muslim activists. Axios reported this week that Pompeo is “pouring money” into a new PAC called Champion American Values in apparent preparation for a 2024 presidential run.
In 2021, the State Department’s investigator general “concluded that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife violated federal ethics rules by asking staffers to run personal errands and perform non-official work such as making restaurant reservations, shopping and caring for their dog,” in the words of an AP report.
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