Mike Pompeo is mentioned in two episodes of The Bob Zadek Show, in both cases by guests rather than as a participant, and in both cases briefly. The excerpts do not include an interview with Pompeo, do not describe his career before or after the offices named, and do not offer any evaluation of his political or legal views. What the sources establish is limited to two roles: his designation as the official to lead follow-on negotiations with North Korea after the June 2018 summit, and his inclusion among the witnesses a guest wished to see testify in the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump.
North Korea negotiations
In the June 24, 2018 episode on North Korea, Bob Zadek’s guest was John Glaser of the Cato Institute. In the closing segment, Zadek asked Glaser for a prognosis on the likely outcome of the interactions between the United States and North Korea, framing the question as one of opinion. Glaser answered that the nuts and bolts of the joint communique signed by Trump and Kim at the summit earlier that month would begin to be hashed out at lower levels, and that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was supposed to lead that effort. In Glaser’s account, the two sides were supposed to obtain tangible concessions from the North Korean side and to plan out when concessions would be given from the American side, with the details to be worked out over the coming months and years. Non-Aggression in a Nuclear Era (2018)
Glaser’s expectation was that the process would extend beyond the first term of the Trump administration, so that no final deal — something concrete and sustainable — would be reached before Trump had to face reelection. He said the North Koreans had an interest in keeping negotiations going as long as possible, that they would look for short steps in the right direction rather than full denuclearization right away, that they would maintain their nuclear weapons while making small steps that pleased the United States, and that they would seek sanctions relief, particularly on their northern border with China. Drawing the process out, in his telling, gained them international status and economic benefit and drew the United States into a long negotiation. Non-Aggression in a Nuclear Era (2018)
The same episode records Glaser’s account of concessions the North Koreans had made up to that point: the release of three hostages who were US citizens, agreement to deliver the remains of roughly 250 soldiers killed in the Korean conflict, and the destruction of some tunnels associated with one of their nuclear test sites, possibly also one of their ballistic missile test sites. He described these as confidence-building measures rather than concrete steps toward denuclearization, and said that in the short term the aim should be to formalize the nuclear freeze — North Korea agreeing not to continue testing nuclear and ballistic missiles, the United States agreeing not to engage in provocative military exercises with South Korea — along with an inspections regime, a timeline, and clearly identified concessions. In the longer term he said this had to mean an end to what the North Koreans called hostile policy, real security guarantees, real sanctions relief in return for actions on the North Korean side, and possibly an end to the war and a peace treaty. He also argued that China and South Korea should not be left out, since both had an interest in what happens on the Korean Peninsula and their inclusion would make any arrangement sustainable across administrations. Non-Aggression in a Nuclear Era (2018)
Pompeo’s role in this account is procedural: he is the official named as leading the effort to work out the communique’s details. The excerpts do not say what he proposed, what authority he had, what he negotiated, or how the effort turned out. They do not state his title beyond the reference to him as Secretary of State, and they do not describe any prior or subsequent involvement in Korea policy.
Impeachment testimony
Pompeo appears again in the January 26, 2020 episode with John Rothmann, in a discussion of the Senate impeachment trial. Rothmann said he believed testimony was important and that it would be good to have testimony, naming Mick Mulvaney and Mike Pompeo as people he would like to hear — the people closest to the president — stand up and say he didn’t do this. Rothmann immediately added that the simple truth was that the president did what he is accused of doing, and that the burden therefore fell to the question the Republicans appeared to have answered: that he did it, but that it did not rise to the level for which he should be removed from office. Withholding Judgment on Impeachment with John Rothmann (2020)
In the same exchange Rothmann said he did not think there would be four Republicans who would vote to hear testimony, and he named Lamar Alexander, Mitt Romney and Senator Collins as among the senators in question on a possible censure resolution, which he expected would have no impact. The excerpts do not record Pompeo testifying, do not say whether he was called or refused, and do not describe his conduct in office in connection with the matters at issue in the trial. His name appears only in the list of witnesses Rothmann wished to hear.
Across episodes
The two episodes do not argue the same question about Pompeo. The 2018 episode treats him as the official charged with carrying forward negotiations with North Korea; the 2020 episode treats him as one of the people closest to the president whom a guest wanted to hear testify. The excerpts show no development in the treatment of Pompeo between the earlier and later episode, and no assessment of him in either.
What the sources do not cover
The excerpts do not state Pompeo’s home state, his congressional district, the offices he held before becoming Secretary of State, or any date of birth, election or appointment. They do not describe his views on foreign policy, trade, surveillance, or any domestic question, and they contain no interview with him or quotation from him. Nothing in the sources addresses his tenure at the Central Intelligence Agency, his time in Congress, or his later political activity. Any article resting on these excerpts can record only the two passing references above.