Pompeo says he will not run for US president

AFP | Washington

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has said he would not seek to run for president in 2024.

"(My wife) Susan and I have concluded, after much consideration and prayer, that I will not present myself as a candidate to become President of the United States in the 2024 election," Pompeo wrote on Twitter.

The Republican cited personal reasons, saying "the time is not right for me and my family."

The former soldier and CIA director hinted, however, at a potential future bid for the presidency.

"To those of you this (news) thrilled, 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."

Seen as brusque in public and curt with the media, Pompeo vowed to give the US State Department back its "swagger" after being appointed its secretary by then-president Donald Trump.

The evangelical Christian managed to stay consistently in Trump's good graces, loyally defending his boss on camera and to foreign allies.

Despite his elite education at West Point and Harvard Law, Pompeo emerged from obscurity as a businessman in Kansas when he was elected to Congress in the right-wing Tea Party wave of 2010.

Trump himself and his former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley have also entered the Republican contest for the nomination.

US President Joe Biden inched closer to formally launching his 2024 bid on Friday, saying to reporters "I told you my plan is to run again."

"I've already made that calculus. We'll announce it relatively soon," Biden said at the end of his visit to Ireland.