Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued in a Thursday interview with Shannon Bream that it was ridiculous to assert that world leaders are waiting for former Vice President Joe Biden to run for president because they ‘need’ him.
Bream began in her question by citing a Politico headline, “World leaders tell Joe Biden that ‘we need you.’ Some of the leaders echoing views from across the continent told him that his return to the White House would be a sure way to restore Western alliances that President Donald Trump has dramatically fractured. Your response?” (RELATED: Pompeo Decries Democrats’ Anti-Semitism In Jerusalem)
“That is ridiculous,” Pompeo responded. “I suppose it is some campaign rhetoric that will continue. The truth is just the opposite. Look at the coalitions that this administration has built out. We have engaged in North Korea, with the toughest sanctions, the global sanctions that come from every Security Council will also have a most successful effort. We have built on a coalition against ISIS at over 80 countries.”
“We built on a coalition of 60 countries that showed up to push back against the threat from the Islamic republic. A threat that the previous administration simply ignored,” Pompeo concluded. “The vice president’s administration set Iran on a path that all but almost guaranteed them a clear path to a nuclear weapon system.”
The conversation followed a Politico report that revealed Biden spoke to several world leaders while at a security conference in Munich last month about his intentions on running for office. The story claimed that several world leaders tried to get Biden to say he would run for president in the 2020 Democratic primary.
Seemingly in an effort to respond, he made a speech in which he appeared to look forward to an eventual end to the Trump administration.
“I promise you. I promise you, as my mother would say, ‘This too shall pass.’ We will be back. We will be back. Don’t have any doubt about that,” Biden told the crowd during the conference.