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In late December 2019, social media users shared a video clip of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo saying, I was the CIA director, we lied, we cheated, we stole. The clip contained the green logo of RT, formerly Russia Today, a Russian government-controlled, state television network that broadcasts in English. The idea that Pompeo had gone on the propaganda network of an adversarial foreign power to make derogatory remarks about an American intelligence agency drew rebuke. But Pompeo did no such thing. He made the remark while visiting a university in Texas, and it was an aside made as part of a much longer response to a question about foreign policy. RT shared the clip with the logo on its Twitter account on Dec. 8, 2019. Others then shared it, apparently under the assumption that Pompeo had made the remark recently while a guest on RT. The clip shared by RT is a brief snippet taken from a much more detailed response during a question-and-answer session with Pompeo during an April 2019 visit to Texas A&M University. When asked by a student how he deals with controversial governments like that of Saudi Arabia, Pompeo offered an anecdote about various tools the U.S. can use, in various combinations, when dealing with governments that range from friendly to adversarial. Beneath the video clip, we have transcribed the entirety of Pompeo's answer to the question. RT's use of the clip is not the first time a foreign government has exploited the statement. In June 2019, the Chinese Foreign Ministry cited it as cause to doubt Pompeo's statements in response to reports that Iran had captured an alleged American spy ring. In sum, although Pompeo did make the statement about the CIA lying, it's not true that he made it as a guest on RT, as some stated. We therefore rate this claim Mixture.
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