A new memoir by former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will be released on Jan. 24.
In the tell-all book, Pompeo asserts that former President Donald Trump informed him he should “shut the hell up for a while” about China’s failure to disclose information on the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that Chinese President Xi Jinping “said it was a sore topic,” according to the New York Post.
Pompeo recalls in the memoir that Xi was very angry that he publicly criticized Beijing’s lack of transparency at a Mar. 25, 2020, State Department press conference.
Reportedly, Xi called Trump on Mar. 26, requesting he order Pompeo to be silent on the matter.
Pompeo reportedly caused waves when he publicly accused Beijing of coordinating an “intentional disinformation campaign” about COVID-19, accusing China of “repeatedly delayed sharing [outbreak] information with the globe.”
The secretary of state also referred to Beijing’s policies as cultural “genocide.”
Pompeo asserts that Xi told Trump that the secretary of state’s comments were putting at risk the “phase one” trade deal Xi and Trump had brokered in January, according to Semafor, which obtained an excerpt of Pompeo’s forthcoming book, “Never Give an Inch.”
Following Xi’s call to Trump, which Pompeo had been invited to sit in on, Trump reportedly said: “My Mike, that f–ing guy hates you!”
Trump later allegedly told Pompeo he was “putting us all at risk” by upsetting Xi and that he should temper his comments because the U.S. needed personal protective equipment (PPE) from China.
At one point, Trump reportedly became blunt: “Stop, for God’s sake!” he said to Pompeo, adding for emphasis, “shut the hell up for a while.”
Pompeo noted in his book that he “honored” Trump’s request because “we needed health equipment and were at the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party’s] mercy for it … and would bide my time.”
Pompeo, 59, has noted that he may enter the 2024 presidential election and run against Trump for the GOP nomination.
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