QUESTION: Joining us now is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Mr. Secretary, I know we have you on for a lot of reasons - China top among them. We've been friends a long time. I've known you for a long time. You have - now you as the Secretary of State are in the position of negotiating some very significant, real, challenging issues as it involves safety and security for the world. You're watching all this unfold in this country, and you see people that are unwilling to even protect the innocent citizens in their cities and states. And I know you as a person well enough to know that that's our first - that's the first job of government, isn't it?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Sean, thanks for having me on tonight. When I watch this, it reminds me of what our founders understood most clearly, that the primary purpose - the primary purpose - of our government is to secure freedom and liberty, basic protections for its citizens. And so when you watch these things happening where mayors and governors refuse to take the actions to protect the innocent, to protect people who are trying to live their lives - you were talking about business people just a bit ago - to protect their property rights, this is the most fundamental duty of government. And to see that not happening in cities and states across America is disheartening, and these governments need to step up.
QUESTION: Before - there's a lot going on with China tonight. We're going to keep these pictures up and go back to our reporters in just a second. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on it. I can tell you I have read that you said that John Bolton is a liar. I know in conversations with me he didn't tell me the truth at direct, specific conversations I can recall. I have all these quotes of John Bolton. I've mentioned them on the radio today and I can recap them.
But praising the president; nobody's been tougher on China. The President's been strong with Russia. The President on Iran, the President on North Korea, for example. I don't know who he's arguing with, but it seems to be this John Bolton and that John Bolton. And it's a little disappointing, but I guess we've seen the President get stabbed in the back by a lot of people at this point - not even relevant to me.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Sean, it's both sad and dangerous. I haven't read the book in its entirety, but the excerpts I've seen, there's lots of falsehoods, there's lot of lies contained there. Indeed, the cover itself, to say he - in the room - he was in the room isn't even completely true. The President and others, myself included, had to cut him out of meetings because he was leaking or he'd twist things or he'd lie. It was a really difficult situation where John Bolton thought he was more important than the President of the United States and the American people.
And the core story, Sean, that somehow the President took actions so he could get re-elected or that his foreign policy was driven by that, he didn't kill Qasem Soleimani to get re-elected. He isn't pushing back against the Chinese Communist Party to get re-elected. He didn't get out of the Paris Climate Accord to get re-elected. He did this to secure the basic rights and security for every American.
This President's foreign policy is something that John Bolton should have been proud of, and instead, he stepped away in a way that fundamentally misrepresents what we've done. And frankly, the information he has released puts criminal liability squarely on him. We all saw what's happened when people leak classified information like Edward Snowden. What John Bolton did here is not dissimilar from that. And while we'll leave open for the Justice Department to take its action, this kind of information getting out, it presents real risk and real harm to the United States of America.
QUESTION: Well, there's half a vote for the ever-forgetful Joe Biden. He can ask himself these questions. Baghdadi is dead. Soleimani is dead. The leader of al-Qaida in Yemen is dead. I don't see any possibility of President Trump - he gave nothing to Kim Jong-un, nothing at all, and we got a lot in return - just a little bit of his time. And I don't see this President giving 150 billion in cash and other currencies to the Iranian mullahs. So his half a vote to Biden will go in that direction.
On to more important things. We have Peter Navarro and you taking lead on China. Apparently, we have now issues involving the trade deal and other new developments. This is significant tonight.
SECRETARY POMPEO: So I spent a day with my counterpart's boss in Hawaii last week trying to understand why on Earth the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in the activities that they are. And I think we understand it; it's ideological for them, whether that's what's taking place between China and India today.
Today, the State Department announced that four propaganda outlets here in the United States the State Department is going to put restrictions on. These are arms of the Chinese Government that President Obama and Vice President Biden allowed to operate freely inside the United States spewing communist propaganda all throughout the United States of America. This State Department, President Trump's State Department, is taking action against that.
This is a President who understands that the Chinese Communist Party and globalists here in the United States have worked together to put real harm and real risk here to the United States. President Trump is not going to permit that to continue to happen.
QUESTION: One person that I would say is more right than anybody in the world about China - we learned this with the coronavirus, Mr. Secretary - is Donald Trump. And I don't think that any of his sons got a sweetheart $1.5 billion deal with the Bank of China in a field of endeavor that they didn't know much about.
One last thing. I do know on a private basis - people have told me - you went to bat to get American citizens home during the coronavirus from one country after another. It's an untold story. Thank you for doing all of that. I heard about a group of missionaries that you got back to the country safely. You know what? Great job, sir. Thank you.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Thank you, Sean. It was important work, and I'm glad those people are all home with their families now.
