Mike Pompeo assures that Trump ordered him not to talk about China and COVID-19 after receiving pressure from Beijing

Jan. 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –

The former Secretary of State of the United States during Donald Trump’s term, Mike Pompeo, has acknowledged that the president ordered him to “shut up” about China and the origin and advance of the coronavirus after receiving pressure from the head of state himself. Chinese, Xi Jinping.

“Mike, that damn guy hates you,” Pompeo assured that Trump told him after having a phone call with Xi in March 2020 in which the Chinese leader criticized the Secretary of State for airing conspiracy theories about the origin and spread of the virus. .

This is recognized by Pompeo himself in his memoirs, ‘Never Give an Inch’ –‘Don’t give in a centimeter’, in Spanish–, scheduled to be published next week but to which the US portal has had access Semafor news.

Thus, this appeal by Trump would have occurred just a few days after Pompeo himself cast doubt on the management of the coronavirus in China and accused Beijing of having repeatedly and deliberately “delayed” the flow of information about the disease. .

According to the former top representative of US diplomacy, Xi reproached Trump for saying that these statements endangered the first advances in the budding trade agreement between Washington and Beijing.

Following this complaint from Xi, Trump accused Pompeo that he was putting “everyone at risk” by angering the Chinese president, especially since at that time the United States required the protective equipment it purchased from China. “Stop, for the love of God,” the president told him.

Finally, Pompeo points out that at that moment he “honored” President Trump’s wish, but defends that at all times he “told the truth” about China and the management of the pandemic. “We needed health teams and we were at the mercy of China (…) I worked for the president,” says the former Secretary of State in his memoirs.