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Pompeo Says ‘Enormous Evidence’ Shows Coronavirus Began in Wuhan Lab, Blasts China

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By New York Post. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said “enormous evidence” exists indicating the coronavirus pandemic began in a lab in Wuhan, China and that the ruling Communist Party did everything it could to keep the outbreak under wraps.

“There’s enormous evidence that that’s where this began. We’ve said from the beginning that this was a virus that originated in Wuhan, China. We took a lot of grief for that from the outset. But I think the whole world can see now,” he said on ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday.

“Remember, China has a history of infecting the world, and they have a history of running substandard laboratories. These are not the first times that we’ve had a world exposed to viruses as a result of failures in a Chinese lab.” . . .

“China behaved like authoritarian regimes do, attempted to conceal and hide and confuse. It employed the World Health Organization as a tool to do the same. These are the kind of things that have now presented this enormous crisis, an enormous loss of life and tremendous economic cost, all across the globe,” Pompeo said. (Read more from “Pompeo Says ‘Enormous Evidence’ Shows Coronavirus Began in Wuhan Lab” HERE)

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Pompeo Blasts China for Suppressing Coronavirus Information, Call It a ‘Classic Communist Disinformation Effort’

By Fox News. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid harsh blame on China on Sunday for engaging in what he called a “classic Communist disinformation effort” and for working “to make sure the world didn’t learn in a timely fashion” about the coronavirus outbreak.

Pompeo told ABC’s “This Week” that the Chinese government “created enormous risk” by downplaying the outbreak and working to silence medical professionals and reporters as part of a campaign to limit the spread of the information about the contagion.

The COVID-19 outbreak was first reported late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

“We can confirm that the Chinese Communist Party did all that it could to make sure that the world didn’t learn in a timely fashion about what was taking place,” Pompeo said. “President Trump has been very clear. We’re going to hold those responsible accountable, and we’ll do so on a timeline that is our own.” (Read more from “Pompeo Blasts China for Suppressing Coronavirus Information, Call It a ‘Classic Communist Disinformation Effort'” HERE)

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Pompeo Says China Is Still Withholding Coronavirus Information

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By Free Beacon. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sharpened on Thursday his criticism of China’s handling of a coronavirus pandemic, saying its ruling Communist Party was still denying the world information needed to prevent further cases.

The remarks, in an interview with the Washington Watch radio program, provoked a riposte from China that Pompeo should cease “politicizing” the epidemic and defaming the country.

Pompeo had repeated previous charges that Beijing’s delay in sharing information about the virus had created risks to people worldwide that had “truly put thousands of lives at risk.”

“My concern is that this cover-up, this disinformation that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in, is still denying the world the information it needs so that we can prevent further cases or something like this from recurring again,” he added.

Pompeo also accused Iran and Russia of waging disinformation campaigns about the virus. (Read more from “Pompeo Says China Is Still Withholding Coronavirus Information” HERE)

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China to Temporarily Bar Entry of Foreigners to Stop Spread of Coronavirus

By Axios. China will temporarily suspend entry for foreign nationals with visas or residence permits beginning at midnight on March 28 in an effort to stop the spread of the coronavirus, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Thursday.

Why it matters: It’s a sign that China, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, is seeking to curb the number of imported cases in order to stop its epidemic from flaring up again. Diplomatic visas will not be affected. (Read more from “China to Temporarily Bar Entry of Foreigners to Stop Spread of Coronavirus” HERE)

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Trump Says He May Need Pompeo to Run for Senate to Retain Kansas Seat

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been coy when asked, as he frequently is, whether he might be considering running for Senate in his home state of Kansas, but President Trump said Tuesday that he might need Pompeo to give up his current job to make sure the seat stays in Republican hands.

The Kansas Senate seat is up for grabs in 2020 because Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is not seeking a fifth term, and some GOP leaders are worried Kris Kobach, the former Kansas secretary of state whose hard-line positions have alienated some in the party, may not be a strong enough candidate to defeat the Democrats.

Kobach lost last year’s governor’s race to Democrat Laura Kelly, and Republicans fear his nomination could give the Democrats their best chance to win their first Kansas Senate seat since 1932.

Speaking to reporters at the NATO summit in London, Trump said if it looks as though the seat might flip, he would have a heart-to-heart with Pompeo about running.

“He’s a tremendous guy doing a tremendous job,” Trump said. “You can never find anybody that can do a better job as secretary of state, but if we thought we were going to lose that, I would have a talk with Mike.” (Read more from “Trump Says He May Need Pompeo to Run for Senate to Retain Kansas Seat” HERE)

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Mike Pompeo Just Reversed A Major Obama Administration Policy on Israel

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced from the State Department Monday afternoon that the United States will no longer condemn Israeli settlements in the West Bank, citing inconsistencies in previous policy and international law on the issue.

“The Trump Administration is reversing the Obama Administration’s approach toward Israeli settlements. U.S. public statements on settlement activities in the West Bank have been inconsistent over decades. In 1978, the Carter Administration categorically concluded that Israel’s establishment of civilian settlements was inconsistent with international law. However, in 1981, President Reagan disagreed with that conclusion, and stated that he didn’t believe the settlements were inherently illegal,” Pompeo said in his prepared remarks. “Subsequent Administrations recognized that unrestrained settlement activity could be an obstacle to peace, but they wisely and prudently recognized that dwelling on legal positions didn’t advance peace. However, in December 2016, the Obama Administration, through Secretary Kerry, changed decades of this careful, bipartisan approach by publicly re-affirming the supposed illegality of settlements.” (Read more from “Mike Pompeo Just Reversed A Major Obama Administration Policy on Israel” HERE)

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Pompeo Accuses Dems of ‘Bullying’ State Employees; Pompeo Now ‘Fact Witness’ in Impeachment Inquiry

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By Fox News. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is fighting back against House Democrats seeking to depose five State Department officials over the Trump-Ukraine controversy.

In a letter and in tweets on Tuesday, Pompeo accused those Democrats of attempting to “intimidate” and “bully” the State Department’s foreign service officers (FSOs) and said depositions being sought by Congress are “not feasible.”

The “requested dates for depositions are not feasible,” Pompeo wrote, claiming the lawmakers have not given the employees enough time to prepare and voicing concern that they’re trying to prevent State Department counsel from participating in the depositions. Pompeo said Executive Branch counsel would have to be present.

“Let me be clear: I will not tolerate such tactics, and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State,” Pompeo tweeted in response to the Democrats’ demand for depositions.

In turn, the Democratic chairmen of the three House committees — House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif. and Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings, D-Md. — accused Pompeo of “intimidating” witnesses. (Read more from “Pompeo Accuses Dems of ‘Bullying’ State Employees” HERE)

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Dems Suggest Pompeo Now ‘Fact Witness’ in Impeachment Inquiry

By Fox News. Reps. Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings, the chairmen of three House committees, informed the State Department in a fiery letter late Tuesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo might now be a “fact witness” in their ongoing impeachment inquiry, after Pompeo accused Dems of trying to “bully” foreign service officers into testifying.

Saying Pompeo “now appears to have an obvious conflict of interest” because he “reportedly participated” in President Trump’s fateful July call with Ukraine’s president, the Democrats also warned that Pompeo could run afoul of obstruction and whistleblower law — crimes, the Democrats noted, that could carry multiyear prison terms. A source familiar with the situation told Fox News that Pompeo was indeed in on the July 25 call at the center of the impeachment drive.

Pompeo “should not be making any decisions regarding witness testimony or document production in order to protect himself or the president,” the Democrats wrote. “Any effort by the secretary of the department to intimidate or prevent witnesses from testifying or withhold documents from the committees shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry.” (Read more from “Dems Suggest Pompeo Now ‘Fact Witness’ in Impeachment Inquiry” HERE)

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Mike Pompeo Says He Won’t Run for Kansas’ Open Senate Seat

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The following is an excerpt from Blaze Media’s daily Capitol Hill Brief email newsletter:

After a great deal of speculation about his political future, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he’s not running for Senate in his home state of Kansas. Pompeo, who served as a congressman from the Sunflower State before his executive branch appointment, told the Washington Examiner that he had no plans to make a play for a desk in the upper chamber.

“I am going to stay here,” Pompeo told the outlet in an interview. “There’s lots of people talking about it. The only one who’s not talking about it is me.”

The question remains who will replace outgoing Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, who announced his retirement in early January. Currently, the biggest name on the Republican side of the race is former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who headed up the White House’s short-lived commission on voter fraud and has a long record as an immigration hawk. Kobach’s candidacy, however, isn’t sitting well with Republican establishment types in Washington.

American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp has said he was considering a run, but has not announced. Now that Pompeo has officially announced he’s staying out of the race, the stage is set for other Republican candidates who wouldn’t have run against him.

Kansas hasn’t sent a Democratic senator to Washington since the 1930s. (For more from the author of “Mike Pompeo Says He Won’t Run for Kansas’ Open Senate Seat” please click HERE)

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Pompeo Arrives in Middle East to Build ‘Global Coalition’ Against Iran

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By Breitbart. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in the Middle East this week to build a “global coalition” against Iran amid intensified tensions between Washington and Tehran.

The likelihood of a military confrontation between Iran and the United States has increased in recent days, notably after Iranian troops shot down an American drone last week. . .

Before leaving the U.S. capital for the Middle East, Pompeo told reporters that he would talk with the two U.S. Sunni Arab allies Saudi Arabia and the UAE:

[A]bout how to make sure that we are all strategically aligned and how we can build out a global coalition, a coalition not only throughout the Gulf states but in Asia and in Europe that…is prepared to push back against the world’s largest state sponsor of terror.

Echoing President Trump, Pompeo noted that the United States is willing to negotiate with Iran without preconditions to ease tensions between the two longtime rivals. Iran, however, has indicated it is not interested in dialogue. (Read more from “Pompeo Arrives in Middle East to Build ‘Global Coalition’ Against Iran” HERE)

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Iran Says Latest US Sanctions Ends ‘Channel of Diplomacy Forever’

By Fox News. A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a tweet Tuesday that the new U.S. sanctions that target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other Iranian officials permanently end any chance of diplomacy between countries.

The U.S. and Iran have seen tensions increase exponentially in the past few weeks after an initial U.S. sanctions squeeze that Washington said led to the attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. The situation became increasingly dire last week after Tehran admitted to downing a $100 million U.S. Navy drone.

Abbas Mousavi took to Twitter to call out President Trump’s latest decision to impose additional sanctions and said the sanctions means “closing channel of diplomacy forever,” according to Reuters.

“Trump’s desperate administration is destroying the established international mechanisms for maintaining world peace and security,” the tweet read. (Read more from “Iran Says Latest US Sanctions Ends ‘Channel of Diplomacy Forever'” HERE)

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Mike Pompeo: Iran Is Responsible for Oil Attacks

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Iran is responsible for the attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared on Thursday. He came to that conclusion “based on intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the operation,” recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, etc.

Pompeo took a hard line on Iran and said the U.S. will defend its forces, interests and stand with our partners and allies. Yet, the secretary also hoped they could bring Iran “back to the negotiating table.”

(Read more from “Mike Pompeo: Iran Is Responsible for Oil Attacks” HERE)

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China Accuses Pompeo of Violating International Law

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On the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed China in a statement honoring the “heroic protest movement of the Chinese people.”

“The hundreds of thousands of protesters who gathered in Beijing and in other cities around China suffered grievously in pursuit of a better future for their country,” Pompeo wrote. “The number of dead is still unknown. We express our deep sorrow to the families still grieving their lost loved ones, including the courageous Tiananmen Mothers, who have never stopped seeking accountability, despite great personal risk. The events of thirty years ago still stir our conscience, and the conscience of freedom-loving people around the world.” . . .

The secretary’s statement also called upon the Chinese government “to make a full, public accounting of those killed or missing” during the Tiananmen Square protests “to give comfort to the many victims of this dark chapter of history.” . . .

In response, the Chinese embassy in Washington claimed the statement violated international law and was made out of “prejudice and arrogance.”

“Under the pretext of human rights, the statement grossly intervenes in China’s internal affairs, attacks its system, and smears its domestic and foreign policies,” the Chinese embassy said in its own statement. “This is an affront to the Chinese people and a serious violation of international law and basic norms governing international relations. The Chinese side expresses its strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition to it.”​ (Read more from “China Accuses Pompeo of Violating International Law” HERE)

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Trump Tells Mike Pompeo to Cancel His Trip to North Korea

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President Trump directed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to cancel his upcoming trip to North Korea Friday, citing stalled progress with denuclearization and the current U.S. trading relationship with China.

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(Read more from “Trump Tells Mike Pompeo to Cancel His Trip to North Korea” HERE)

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