Mike Pompeo says he will not run for president in 2024 election

Former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that he will not be running for president in the 2024 election. Pompeo, a devoted ally and defender of former President Donald Trump, opted out of a contest that would have put him into direct competition with his former commander-in-chief.

Pompeo had previously stated that he was considering a run for the presidency in January of this year. However, in a recent statement, he explained that he had made a personal decision not to pursue a presidential bid. He also acknowledged his supporters, saying, “To those of you who this announcement disappoints, my apologies. And to those of you this thrills, know that I’m 59 years old. There remain many more opportunities for which the timing might be more fitting as presidential leadership becomes even more necessary.”

Pompeo, who spoke about his decision on Fox News on Friday, would have been the second former Trump cabinet member to enter the race to challenge the former president for the 2024 GOP nomination, joining former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her campaign in February. Former Vice President Mike Pence is also considering entering the race and has stepped up his travel and activity in early voting primary and caucus states.

Unlike Haley and Pence, who have openly expressed differences with Trump, Pompeo has had no public split with the former president and has not been rebuked by him, as many of his potential rivals have. Pompeo recently referred to Trump as a “great boss.”

Pompeo’s career path has been impressive, having graduated at the top of his class from the US Military Academy in 1986 before spending five years on active duty, deployed for a time as a cavalry officer commanding tank movements along the border between Nato-backed western Europe and Soviet-occupied eastern Europe. He is also a Harvard-educated lawyer who practiced law in Washington and founded two Wichita businesses – an aerospace firm and later a petroleum equipment manufacturer – before entering politics.

Pompeo easily won four consecutive terms in the US House representing southern Kansas and sat on the House intelligence committee as well as the select committee investigating the deadly 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya.

The 2018 withdrawal from the Iran deal and the imposition of crippling sanctions have prompted death threats against Pompeo, who remains under 24-hour security protection provided by the state department.

In his statement, Pompeo expressed his gratitude to those who supported him and praised the United States Judeo-Christian heritage, families, and country as the most exceptional in the history of civilization.