Former Trump administration official Mike Pompeo is getting roundly mocked for claiming that a “female” employee thanked him for not judging her based on her “sexuality.”
In a tweet attacking diversity in the workplace, the former Secretary of State and CIA Director claimed that he “valued individuals based on their talent and skill, not their race or sexuality.”
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“I’ll never forget what one female analyst said to me: ‘Thank you for valuing me for my work. I want my abilities and achievements to define me, not my sexuality,'” Pompeo claimed.
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He didn’t elaborate on this strange story, say whether the analyst in question was LGBTQ, or even why she was bringing up her sexuality in the first place.
Instead he said in his next tweet that the U.S. “can’t afford to risk our national security to appease some liberal, woke agenda.”
The collection of incredibly talented patriots serving America at the CIA is what makes it the best spy agency in the world — and we must continue to recruit the best and brightest. We can’t afford to risk our national security to appease some liberal, woke agenda.
— Mike Pompeo (@mikepompeo) May 4, 2021
But people did question his story.
Weird, I assumed folks at the CIA were better at lying than this.
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) May 5, 2021
Yes this definitely happened. But we wouldn't know the woman, she lives in Canada and goes to another agency now.
— Dan (@Eodyne1) May 5, 2021
And did she call you 'sir', while crying, and tell you that women from all over the world had told her how much they admired what you were doing for them?
— Cyber-Man 3000 (@3000Cyber) May 5, 2021
yep, women frequently tell their bosses how grateful they are not to be defined by their sexuality.
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) May 5, 2021
Didn't everyone hate you at the CIA?
— Joyous Panther (@JoyousPanther) May 5, 2021
Others pointed to some scandals Pompeo was involved in, like when he cursed out an NPR reporter in private and forced her to point to Ukraine on a map after she asked a question about the country and a report that he and his wife violated federal ethics rules by making CIA staff run personal errands for them.
One out of 21,575 CIA employees? That employee wouldn't be the woman who picked up your dry cleaning, walked your dog and addressed your wife's Christmas cards, would she?
— Meidas Rick🏳️🌈 (@RandallUhrig) May 5, 2021
Did you ask her to find Ukraine on a map and then get really mad when she did it?
— Chris B (@ChrisBEsq) May 5, 2021
Pompeo was referring to an ad for CIA recruitment entitled “Humans of the CIA,” according to The Hill.
The ad extolls diversity at the federal agency. A Latina agent talks about her identity in the ad and says that she can be herself at the workplace and that she earned her career due to her qualifications, education, and talents.
“I am a woman of color. I am a mom,” she says in the ad. “But my existence is not a box-checking exercise.”
The ad is pretty banal, but it has been widely criticized on the right for discussing the agent’s race and gender in a positive light.
