Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State under Donald Trump, said Friday that he has prayerfully decided not to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2024. 

"I have made a decision," he said, adding that his wife Susan had also been part of the decision process. "[We] have prayerfully come to the conclusion we are not going to join the race in 2024. While we care deeply about America and the issues I've been talking about for the past year-and-half – and frankly for decades – matter an awful lot, this isn't our moment."

Pompeo said that his former boss being in the race as the current frontrunner was not a consideration for his decision.

No, not at all. This is a deeply personal decision for Susan and me and our son, Nick and his wife, Rachel," Pompeo said.

Ideas, not personality

Pompeo said he hoped the race would be about ideas rather than personality. "Frankly, this race, I hope, isn't about people. I hope it's about these ideas," he said.

Deficit spending now at $2 trillion a year and a decline in military readiness are two of the issues Pompeo thinks need to be addressed by the next president.

He touted his military record as an Army officer and West Point graduate as qualifications for higher office.

"These are things that I care about. We were thinking about, can we impact them? Is this the right time for us to go seek the presidency, to go try and work on this? And we just simply came to the conclusion this wasn't the moment for us."

"Arguments, not just tweets"

Pompeo said he will endorse a candidate in the GOP primary and do what he can to help them, when he "figure[s] out who that person is."

Indirectly, he criticized Trump, saying Americans are "thirsting for people making arguments, not just tweets."

"I don't know if that will end up being President Trump that the American people choose or if that is who our party will choose to be its nominee. But I'm hopeful that it will be those debates about real arguments, things that really matter," he said.

"And if that happens, America will be in a pretty d**n good place," he added.

Pompeo's travels

Pompeo has spent the last two years traveling the country to support various GOP congressional candidates. He also toured after the publication of his book, "Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love."

Publishing a book is a common first step to becoming a presidential candidate, but in this case it seems that Pompeo didn't get as much of a reaction as he hoped for.