MIKE POMPEO/PRISONER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/TURKEY: “Declaring that ‘the clock had run out,’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged Turkey on Friday [8-3-18] to free an American pastor imprisoned on espionage charges, in a case that had spurred United States to impose sanctions against two top Turkish government officials. Mr. Pompeo discussed the case of the evangelical pastor, Andrew Brunson, with Turkey’s foreign minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, on the sidelines of a Southeast Asia security conference in Singapore, after previously pressing the case at least three times by phone. Mr. Brunson’s imprisonment has threatened to plunge fraught relations with Turkey, a vital NATO ally, into crisis…On Wednesday [8-1-18], the Trump administration, frustrated by Turkey’s refusal to release Mr. Brunson, placed sanctions on two top Turkish officials — Abdulhamit Gul, the justice minister, and Suleyman Soylu, the interior minister — for their role in Mr. Brunson’s detention.”
–Richard C. Paddock, “Pompeo Warns Turkey on Detained U.S. Pastor: The Clock Has ‘Run Out’,” The New York Times online, August 3, 2018