CBS This Morning co-host Gayle King on Tuesday repeated a nasty quote about Mike Pompeo, deriding the Secretary of State as a “heat-seeking missile for Trump’s” ass. King interviewed Pompeo for Tuesday’s show and parroted the vulgar comment from a New Yorker piece.
She regurgitated, “One former American ambassador who shall not be named, this is delicate, describes you like ‘a heat-seeking missile for Trump's bottom.’ Except he used the other word.”
King is the same person who has vacationed with the Obamas and donated thousands to Democrats (including Barack Obama). She has also declared the Democrat scandal-free. (For more on all of this, go here.) Can anyone imagine her reading such a nasty quote to the Obamas?
King demanded Pompeo respond to the gross quote about him, saying, “When you hear stuff like that to compare how you are with this President, what do you think?”
Here’s the full remark that King commented from in the New Yorker story:
As a former senior White House official told me, “There will never be any daylight publicly between him and Trump.” The former official said that, in private, too, Pompeo is “among the most sycophantic and obsequious people around Trump.” Even more bluntly, a former American ambassador told me, “He’s like a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass.”
King repeatedly called Pompeo patriotic, which is a compliment conservatives don’t alwasy get on CBS. Yet, there seemed to be an undertone of wondering how the Secretary of State can work for Trump:
The point I'm making is that people who know you and love you and support you say, “Look, this is a guy who loves his country.” I think people are surprised to see the evolution of where you were in the beginning in 2016 when you supported Marco Rubio and at one point said, “It's time to turn the lights down on the circus to the Donald Trump campaign” to now being very closely aligned with Donald Trump. Somebody said, “You know, he actually gets Donald Trump.” What is it that you get about Donald Trump that others don't?
A transcript of the segment is below. Click “expand” to read more.
CBS This Morning
8/20/19
8:09
GAYLE KING: You were the cover story in New Yorker. 21 pages devoted to you. Called "Secretary of Trump." And it’s interesting, because it takes the evolution of you, Mike Pompeo, who grew up in Orange County. I was surprised to see you like AC/DC. I did not see them coming.
MIKE POMPEO: My younger days. I still like them today.
KING: They call you — you've been called an old-fashioned American. Your dogs, golden retrievers are named after generals. General —
POMPEO: Sherman and Patton are the last two.
KING: Sherman and Patton. The point I'm making is that people who know you and love you and support you say, “Look, this is a guy who loves his country.” I think people are surprised to see the evolution of where you were in the beginning in 2016 when you supported Marco Rubio and at one point said, “It's time to turn the lights down on the circus to the Donald Trump campaign” to now being very closely aligned with Donald Trump. Somebody said, “You know, he actually gets Donald Trump.” What is it that you get about Donald Trump that others don't?
POMPEO: He cares deeply about America. And in the world I've worked, I worked for him first as director of the Central Intelligence Agency, now with the Secretary of State. He wants to see the American people secure. He wants to grow our economy. He wants better lives for them. I see that. I have had lots of chances to engage with him —
KING: You see it now, though. In the beginning you said authoritarian, “time to turn the lights out in the circus.” I'm curious because they say about you, you are — you are very patriotic, you get this country. You know, the President is not always accused of telling the truth. He's very loose with his tweets. It seems to be opposite of how you run your life.
POMPEO: Yeah. I've enjoyed the privilege of working for President Trump. You know the comments from back in 2016, it was a tough political campaign. When I'm on your team, I am all in. As I was. And when my candidate left, I was all in for President Trump then, as well. And I'm in for America today.
KING: You have a lot of support, Mr. Secretary. They say the State Department morale is better under your watch. People feel good about what they do. But you've got critics. One former American ambassador who shall not be named, this is delicate, describes you like “a heat-seeking missile for Trump's bottom.” Except he used the other word. When you hear stuff like that to compare how you are with this President, what do you think?
POMPEO: I find the language offensive, and I find the statement ludicrous. I work hard. I work hard for the President of the United States who was constitutionally elected. He is my leader. My task is to share with him the best information. If we disagree, my duty is to go share the disagreements. I do that with great frequency. But when he makes a decision, and it is legal, It is my task to execute his decision with all the energy and the power that I have.
KING: If he wins a second term, will you continue to be Secretary of State? You know, there are calls for you to run for senate in Kansas. Don't expect you to say, “yes I'm going to run here, Gayle.” But if he does -- if he wins again, do you want to be Secretary of State?
POMPEO: I would love to serve for him just as long as I can. It's a great opportunity to get to lead this organization. 70,000-plus great Americans out there all across the world taking real risks for themselves and their families and delivering good, solid, American diplomacy everywhere they are.
