Did Pompeo Give Branstad the Boot?

U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad announced today that he was leaving his post “in early October.” The embassy statement indicates that he had informed President Donald Trump of his decision last week. The Chinese Foreign Ministry, however, first learned of his decision through a tweet from Mike Pompeo issued at 12:47 a.m. this morning on the day Branstad announced his resignation, in which Pompeo stated, “I thank Ambassador Terry Branstad for his more than three years of service to the American people as U.S. Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China.”