Pompeo Derided for Claiming ‘World is Safer’ as His Own State Department Issues Evacuation Warning
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is being called out by former Trump administration Pentagon spokesman David Lapan for saying that “the world is a much safer place” following the killing of Qasem Soleimani, despite State Department alerts warning Americans to flee Iraq.
During an extensive interview on CNN’s New Day Friday morning, Pompeo was asked to respond to French deputy minister for foreign affairs Amelie de Montchalin’s statement that “We are waking up in a more dangerous world” because of the Soleimani killing.
“Yeah, well, the French are just wrong about that,” Pompeo said, and added “The world’s a much safer place today. And I can assure you that Americans in the region are much safer today after the demise of Qasem Soleimani.”
That declaration drew rebuke from Lapan, who served as spokesman for several agencies during the first year of the Trump administration. Lapan retweeted a list of State Department travel advisories, and wrote “The State Dept alert below sends a much different message than this one from the leader of the State Dept, Secretary Pompeo: ‘The world is a much safer place today. I can assure you that Americans in the region are much safer.’”
“Which is it? (Answer: more dangerous, not less)” he added.
The State Dept alert below sends a much different message than this one from the leader of the State Dept, Secretary Pompeo: “The world is a much safer place today. I can assure you that Americans in the region are much safer.”
Which is it? (Answer: more dangerous, not less) https://t.co/bw7Py2y5WH
— David Lapan (@DaveLapanDC) January 3, 2020
Democratic Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy — who has been critical of President Donald Trump for failing to consult Congress before the attack — went after Pompeo as well. Murphy tweeted a dire State Department security alert warning Americans to leave Iraq, and wrote “Pompeo just said ‘Americans in the region are much safer today’.”
“That’s obviously not true. We are immediately evacuating all Americans from Iraq,” he continued, adding “At this perilous moment, the Administrarion (sic) must be truthful about what they did and the consequences. This isn’t a good start.”
Pompeo just said “Americans in the region are much safer today”.
That’s obviously not true. We are immediately evacuating all Americans from Iraq.
At this perilous moment, the Administrarion must be truthful about what they did and the consequences.
This isn’t a good start. https://t.co/MLcC6wqXZn
— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 3, 2020
In the same portion of that interview, Pompeo also claimed “the Iranian people understand that America is a force for good in the region,” and predicted they will demand change from the Iranian government because of this killing.
Watch the clip above via CNN.
