Trump's decision to block Pompeo from his administration demonstrates his willingness to trust non-traditional media sources and outsider confidants rather than establishment figures with experience in government. 

Pompeo, a four-term congressman from Kansasm was first in his class at West Point, and a graduate of Harvard Law University before entering the Trump administration in 2017 as the director of the CIA. 

Trump shifted Pompeo to the State Department in 2018 after the disappointing tenure of former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, the president's first choice to lead the department. 

Carlson has long been a public critic of Pompeo, in particular because of his reported attempt to assassinate Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

'Mike Pompeo, who is a very sinister person, the worst, and I always thought that and I've told Trump that, never should have let him run CIA or State,' Carlson said in a podcast interview with TV star Roseanne.

The story of Pompeo's efforts against Assange were first reported by Yahoo News in 2021, based on 'conversations with more than 30 former U.S. officials.'

Carlson, who urged Trump to pardon Assange, continued hammering Pompeo even after he left office. 

'Mike Pompeo tried to have him murdered,' Carlson said, and added, 'Why is Mike Pompeo not in prison?'

Pompeo, Carlson repeated, would repeatedly flatter Trump to get him to trust him and his advice on foreign policy, which was that of a committed pro-war neo-conservative.

'Mike Pompeo, I saw it up close, and I saw it intimately close, is a liar and a flatterer,' he said.

Carlson also grew wary of Pompeo after the former CIA director's lawyers contacted him after he spoke about the John F. Kennedy assassination on his Fox News show.

'I spoke to someone who seen the documents two years ago and I got one fact out of them, which is yes the CIA was involved,' Carlson said during a 2024 interview with podcaster Joe Rogan. 'I thought that was news, so I went on TV and said that.'