A decorated Army war hero tells Newsmax TV that President Donald Trump’s use of CIA director Mike Pompeo to lay the groundwork for a meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un is a solid move that may lead to a peaceful resolution with the saber-rattling strongman.
"I think that Trump is doing an exceptional job up to this point a least," retired Army Lt. Col. Daniel Davis said Thursday on Newsmax’s "The Brett Winterble Show.”
"He was hired by the American people as a disruptive force, they were tired of the status quo and he’s definitely a disruptive force. And he has accomplished things with this very unorthodox way that he operates.”
President Donald Trump confirmed on Wednesday morning that Pompeo made a previously undisclosed trip to North Korea to meet with Kim last week, tweeting: "Meeting went very smoothly and a good relationship was formed. Details of Summit are being worked out now. Denuclearization will be a great thing for World, but also for North Korea!”
Pompeo, who is awaiting confirmation as the nation’s secretary of state -- is the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit North Korea since former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Pyongyang in 2000.
Davis, a Bronze Star recipient who served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan combat zones, said that unorthodox way of doing business has achieved what 12 presidents -- going back to Harry Truman and the Korean War – have failed to do.
"None of them have gotten to the point where we actually have a shot at a peaceful resolution to the whole crisis. And so he deserves a lot of credit for that on its own merit," Davis told Winterble.
"His use of Pompeo is an example of that. I’ve heard a lot of people complain, oh, this is not a diplomat-led thing, this is a spy-led thing. Look, President Trump is really about personal relationships and if he has someone on the same wavelength he can trust, then that’s who he’s going to use …
"But it looks like he achieved what the president wanted which was to lay the ground work … because if it turned out that Kim Jong Un said I’m looking for this and here are my positions and it’s not something President Trump can live with then he would be right to say we’ll postpone this until we get this right."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.