Pompeo slams White House after report about Iran’s election meddling: ‘Weakness and appeasement’
Fox News
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called out the White House after a recent intelligence report found that Iran is trying to sabotage former President Trump’s presidential campaign, arguing that the Biden-Harris administration’s policy of “weakness and appeasement” strengthens Tehran.
The findings were revealed during an Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) press briefing on Monday. An official said that U.S. spy agencies “observed Tehran working to influence the presidential election,” likely because Iranian leaders want to avoid escalating any conflicts with the U.S.
The regime is allegedly using “vast webs of online personas and propaganda mills,” to spread disinformation. Though the ODNI did not explicitly say that Iran was aiming at Trump, an official said they “haven’t observed a shift in Iran’s preferences” since 2020, meaning that Tehran was still targeting the Republican candidate.
Speaking to Fox News Digital on Tuesday, Pompeo said that he was not surprised by Iran’s attempts to influence the election. The Fox News contributor explained that Iran was “isolated, broke, and weak,” when he left office in January 2021 — and accused the Biden administration of enabling the Iranian regime.
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“It is not surprising that the Iranian regime would want to do everything in its power to prevent a second Trump administration,” Pompeo said.
“The Biden-Harris administration, on the other hand, has pursued a program of weakness and appeasement, and Iran is flush with cash and powerful once more as a result.
The former Secretary of State also said that Tehran “despises” American values and expects them to continue interfering with the 2024 presidential election.
“It will do everything it can to meddle in our democracy to support Kamala Harris, who will continue the same policies of weakness and keep the regime rich and powerful,” Pompeo added.
On Monday, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran denied the interference allegations.
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“Iran does not engage in any objectives or activities intended to influence the U.S. election,” a spokesperson said. “A significant portion of such accusations are characterized by psychological operations designed to artificially pep up election campaigns.”
Tehran has also been accused of a separate plot to kill Trump on July 13, after a gunman shot the former president at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. The Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran has called the claims “unsubstantiated and malicious.”
During a joint hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the FBI’s deputy director Paul Abbate said that officials are “not ruling anything out,” regarding Iran’s possible involvement.
“We have no information that there are any co-conspirators, foreign or domestic, including Iran, related to this, but we’re not — I want to be clear — we have no evidence of that,” Abbate explained. “We’re not ruling anything out. We’re looking into all possibilities and leaving our minds open to that.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.