Report: Pompeo looking to leave State Department, run for Senate

The secretary’s problem regarding his planned departure, says the magazine, is “how to get out in one piece.”

By World Israel News Staff 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, at the center of praise in Israel on Monday with his announcement that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria are not illegal, might be on his way out of the State Department.

Pompeo “has told three prominent Republicans in recent weeks that he plans to resign from the Trump Administration to run for the U.S. Senate from Kansas in next year’s elections,” Time magazine reported on Tuesday.

The secretary’s problem regarding his planned departure, says the magazine, is “how to get out in one piece.”

According to the magazine, “recent developments, including the House impeachment inquiry, are hurting him politically and straining his relationship with Trump.”

As a result,”Pompeo is rethinking his calendar,” according to the top Republicans cited in the Time report.

“There is no indication whether Pompeo has discussed his plans with President Trump,” according to the magazine.

“Trump has recently groused about Pompeo’s failure to defend him vigorously enough and rein in State Department officials who have told investigators about the Administration’s back channel dealings with Ukraine,” says Time, based on its sources.

“The President’s complaints, first reported by NBC News, also have caused Pompeo to reconsider whether sticking with Trump would help or hurt a Senate run, says one of the sources,” as cited by the magazine.

However, it is not only diplomatic issues which might impact whether the secretary of state runs for a Senate seat representing Kansas.

“The pain Trump’s trade policies [are] inflicting on the state’s farmers are threatening to suppress Republican enthusiasm and turnout next year,” says Time, quoting “a prominent Kansas Republican.”

A number of senior Israeli officials have given positive feedback about their interaction with Pompeo, who they consider more sympathetic than his predecessor, Rex Tillerson.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has written in a new book that Tillerson opposed the move of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.

“We would miss Mr. Pompeo if he decides to step down as secretary of state,” a senior Israeli official told World Israel News, “though we have confidence that the close relationship with the Trump Administration would continue under a new secretary of state, as well.”