Who is Mike Pompeo? Narrated by Judy Gold

Mike Pompeo is a major Koch beneficiary, a former defense and oil executive, and the current head of all diplomatic relations of the United States — but how did he get to where he is today?

Pompeo was born in 1963 in Orange, California, and graduated at the top of his class at the West Point Military Academy. After serving in the military from 1986 to 1991, he went on to work at Williams & Connolly and then start a defense business with friends in Wichita, Kansas. This ended up connecting him with the Koch brothers, who helped bankroll the defense/aerospace company he was later pushed out of because of financial drama.

He later won a seat in Congress, where he pushed anti-Muslim, anti-gay, and anti-abortion views. He also maintained a skeptical stance on global warming and defended the CIA’s use of torture during the George W. Bush administration post 9/11.

Though most of Pompeo’s foreign policy experience comes from being on the Benghazi committee, it still caught Trump’s attention. The president tapped Pompeo to be director of the CIA. And, despite his foreign business ties, Pompeo was still later made Secretary of State to replace Rex Tillerson.