>
Article snippet: Secretary of State MORE. Trump on Wednesday tore into Bolton, mocking him as “Mr. Tough Guy” and blaming him for causing setbacks on North Korea and lamenting that he made “some very big mistakes.” By comparison, Pompeo has maintained a strong relationship with the president and emerged as one of his most trusted allies by falling in line with Trump’s final decisions. “From day one, Mike has understood that he’s there to advance the president’s agenda and not his own. That is essential in a Trump administration,” said former White House press secretary MORE, who worked with Pompeo during the first several months of the Trump administration. In contrast, Spicer said it was clear to him from Trump’s remarks about Bolton “that the president felt as though John had his own agenda in many cases.” Pompeo, a former Republican congressman, is viewed as a loyalist to Trump, and has pushed the president’s “America First” agenda even as his own conservative foreign policy views have seemed to place him at odds with some of those initiatives. One State Department official told The Hill that the department is in the driver’s seat on policies that the White House’s National Security Council would have run point on in the past, pointing specifically to the administration’s agenda in the Middle East. The official also said that Pompeo has effectively balanced managing the State Department and providing input to Trump, which has earned him respect among individuals in Foggy ... Link to the full article to read more