Pompeo’s Iowa Trip Draws Scrutiny of His Political Ambitions

(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is in Iowa to speak with Christian leaders and meet farmers, the latest in a series of domestic trips that have fueled suspicion he’s using his job as America’s top diplomat to lay the groundwork for a future political run.

Pompeo, a devout evangelical Christian, will give a speech Friday to the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines and meet behind closed doors with Iowan farmers, business leaders and politicians, according to his public schedule for the day.

The speech is expected to hit the same themes as a report he commissioned on “unalienable rights” that was released yesterday, which emphasized religious freedom over ideas Pompeo opposes, such as the right to an abortion and same-sex marriage.

While the secretary of state has repeatedly rejected suggestions that he’s laying the groundwork for a post-Trump administration political future, his Friday trip drew a rebuke from the president’s Democratic opponent ahead of the November election, Joe Biden.

“Whether Secretary Pompeo is in Iowa today to garner support for President Trump’s foreign policy or position himself to run for office, he needs to really listen to Iowans for the truth,” a Biden campaign press release said on Friday, citing Iowa farmer Pam Johnson. “All is not well.”

‘Dark Vision’

In a speech about the unalienable rights report on Thursday, Pompeo frequently strayed into U.S. politics, offering a bleak view of the protests that have shaken America in recent weeks.

“The rioters pulling down statues thus see nothing wrong with desecrating monuments to those who fought for our unalienable rights – from our founding to the present day,” Pompeo said. “This is a dark vision of America’s birth. I reject it.”

Pompeo’s airing of those views, along with his frequent visits to his adopted home state of Kansas, have raised suspicion that he’s actively courting the conservative base he’ll need if he runs for the presidency in 2024, as many Republicans expect. His advisers have acknowledged he has ambitions for higher office.

Success in Iowa’s quadrennial presidential caucuses have long been the first official test of a potential candidate’s support.

Pompeo often layers political tasks onto his domestic travels. When he went to Florida in January, he made an unannounced stop at The Villages, a mostly Republican retirement community. He’s also met frequently with Republican donors on the sidelines of trips to California and New York, with few of those events showing up on his public schedule.

In an interview with The Hill on Thursday, Pompeo denied there was any hidden agenda behind his Iowa visit.

“When I travel to America’s heartland, everybody always has some second theory of the case about why Mike Pompeo might travel there,” Pompeo said. “I think every American ought to hear it from America’s Secretary of State about our foreign policy, about our trade policies that affect the people of Iowa greatly.”

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