Donald Trump’s national security adviser says Mike Pompeo is ‘NOT running for Senate’

Donald Trump’s national security adviser said Sunday that Mike Pompeo told him he doesn’t intend to run for a Senate seat in Kansas in 2020.

Robert O’Brien told ABC News that instead the Secretary of State intends to stay in his position with the Trump administration.

‘I hope and expect that Secretary Pompeo will stay,’ O’Brien told ABC News White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl Sunday morning.

‘I spoke with him about this two nights ago,’ O’Brien continued. ‘He said he’s not running for Senate. He said he’s staying in as secretary of state. And I’m – this is one American who’s very pleased that the president picked Mike and that Mike is committed to staying.’

This assertion contradicts several other reports that indicated Pompeo is either considering or has decided to run for Senate in his adopted home state, where he moved in the late 1990s, for the one seat that’s up in 2020.

Speculation has continued to swirl that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (pictured) is planning to leave the administration to run for the seat that will open up since GOP Senator Pat Roberts will retire in 2020

Pompeo has denied the reports, but Trump says he might change his mind if it appears the Kansas Senate seat is in jeopardy of being lost to Democrats next year

Current GOP Senator Pat Roberts is not running for reelection, and there are at least seven Republican candidates already vying for his spot.

‘You know, look, Mike Pompeo is a fantastic secretary of state. He was one of the president’s best picks for the cabinet,’ O’Brien said of Pompeo. ‘He’s a friend of mine. I enjoy working for him. I hope he doesn’t leave.’

‘I love the job I’ve got now,’ he said when Karl asked if he was interested in becoming the next secretary of state in Pompeo were to exit the administration. ‘I get to work with the president every day and I’m very happy with sitting where I am.’

Reports began circulating last week that Trump was already mulling who would replace Pompeo, and become his third secretary of State, should Pompeo decide to run for Senate.

On Thursday, reports emerged that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is continuing his push for Pompeo to run as other officials are lining up to take his job.

The most recognizable person The Washington Post listed as a potential new secretary of State original Trump cabinet member and current Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

O’Brien’s name was also floated, according to the report.

Speculation of the run was fueled when Pompeo created a personal Twitter account separate from his administration account where he posts pictures of his family and golden retriever Sherman

The national security adviser took over for John Bolton when he was ousted via Twitter in September.

Kansas has a late filing deadline so Pompeo has until June 2020 to decide if he wants to run for Senate.

Officials have both fed and denied reports that Pompeo is eyeing a Senate seat in the state where he served as a U.S. representative 2011-2017.

Early in December Pompeo said it’s ‘completely false’ that he’s gearing up for a Senate run, telling Fox News that there is ‘nothing at all’ to reports he’s going to step down.

On the other hand, Trump has said he could see Pompeo changing his mind about the Kansas Senate if he thought there was danger that GOP would lose that seat.

He boasted that his secretary of State ‘would win in a landslide because they love him in Kansas.’

Pompeo further fueled the fire of speculation when he created a new personal Twitter account earlier this month separate from his official administration account.

On the new account Pompeo posts images of his family, golden retriever Sherman and Christmas celebrations and tweets about college football and church services.

‘On a Christmas tree at the White House, I found the states where the two most important people in my life were born… Kansas and Iowa!’ he said in one tweet on December 21.