I believe him. Trump was POTUS. He gets to set policy. He’s the one leading negotiations. It was a very tenuous time - Trump had slapped trade sanctions on Chinese goods; and then banned travel, and there was a Pandemic. POTUS absolutely has the right and perhaps obligation to tell his SOS to “shut the hell up for a while” while POTUS grapples with sensitive issues involving foreign governments, trade, travel and other policy issues - especially if the SOS is speaking out of turn or off the cuff.
Personally I see nothing wrong here. If Pompeo is trying to get my sympathy he didn’t. If he’s trying to make Trump look bad he didn’t. All of this is part of the job(s).
We may soon reach the point where nearly every FReeper agrees with the view I’ve had about Pompeo for several years now: that he’s a globalist “deep state” @sshole.