Mike Pompeo is going down. Here’s what happens next.
Donald Trump has a long and consistent history of ruthlessly sacrificing his own underlings once his scandals get particularly ugly, so now that he’s facing impeachment and a whistleblower scandal that could send him to prison once he’s ousted, there’s little doubt Trump will do it again. The question has been who would be scapegoated first. Now the answer is becoming clear: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Earlier this week the White House confirmed to the media that Mike Pompeo participated in Donald Trump’s fateful phone call with the president of Ukraine. This left Pompeo with little choice but to confess that this was true, which he just did. This comes even as the State Department Inspector General is meeting with Congress today to blow the whistle on Pompeo’s corruption. In addition, Trump’s ally Rudy Giuliani seems intent on taking Pompeo down in the hope of saving himself.
This all adds up to Mike Pompeo not only being damaged goods, but also being a liability for Donald Trump. So let’s say that Trump’s next step is to force Pompeo to resign, in the hope that it’ll stop the bleeding. This will then leave Pompeo with a choice. He can either turn against Trump and cooperate with the House impeachment inquiry in the hope it’ll save him from eventual criminal charges, or he can keep his mouth shut and hope Trump pardons him in the end. Considering how Trump is selling Pompeo out, is Pompeo naive enough to believe a pardon is coming?
Last night House Democrats began negotiating directly with the Deputy Secretary of State John Sullivan in the impeachment inquiry, seemingly under the presumption that Pompeo won’t be around much longer. If Sullivan becomes the Acting Secretary of State, will he side with Trump or the House? If Sullivan sides with the House, will Trump try to install someone else as Acting Secretary of State? Donald Trump tried a similar stunt with the Director of National Intelligence last month, but Senate Republicans shut him down – and Trump wasn’t facing nearly as much heat back then. So if Mike Pompeo really does go down this week as expected, there will be a lot to keep an eye on.
