I have skimmed through the memoir of Mike Pompeo, former CIA director and former Secretary of State—and now presidential candidate. Two things jump out. His son, Nick, wrote the (unctuous) introduction. I’m not sure what the point is of having your non-author, non-public servant son write the introduction, but it made me think I should be very nice to my adult sons just in case I run out of options for my own books.

More seriously: Qatar.

I keep pressing the search function on my Kindle looking for any mention of the blockade of Qatar….and none.

This is completely fascinating. Why?

In Kushner, Inc, my own 2019 book, I have a whole passage on how Pompeo was caught in the middle between Trump and rulers of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In April 2018, Trump wrote a letter to Saudi Crown Prince MBS, which he gave to Pompeo to hand-deliver, telling MBS to knock off the blockade of rival Qatar, which the US, who has an airbase there, would no longer support.

You can read my account of what happened at “Vicky Ward Investigates”