US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning to resign his position in the Trump administration ahead of a run for a US Senate seat in Kansas next year, Time reported Tuesday night.
According to the report, Pompeo has already discussed his plans with three senior Republicans over the past few weeks, as he mulls the exact timing of his departure from the Trump administration.
The Secretary of State is reportedly planning to run in next year’s Senate race for the seat set to be vacated by senior Kansas Senator Pat Roberts. Roberts, a Republican, announced this January that he will not seek reelection.
While Kansas is considered to be reliably Republican, Pompeo would have to face a crowded field of rival candidates for the GOP nomination, and the timing of his departure from the Trump administration could have a major impact on his chances.
Pompeo had initially planned to stay on as Secretary of State until early spring of next year, the three senior Republicans said, though Pompeo has been rethinking the timetable for his departure, following criticism from President Trump.
Trump has vented his frustrations with Pompeo in recent weeks, including naming him in a tweet last month in which he said Pompeo “made a mistake” in hiring William B. Taylor Jr., a diplomat now at the center of the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
Taylor had been hired to serve as the US representative in Ukraine.
While Pompeo has previously denied planning to run for the US Senate in 2020, he did not rule out a possible run.
Aides who previously denied the Secretary is planning on resigning declined to comment on the Time report.
