Teachers’ union head accuses Pompeo of stoking hate with ‘filth’ comments

The American Federation of Teachers president, Randi Weingarten: ‘It’s politically expedient for him, but it’s dangerous to teachers across the country.’ Photograph: Aaron Bernstein/Reuters

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), has denounced the former secretary of state Mike Pompeo for calling her “the most dangerous person in the world” and asserting that the nation’s schoolteachers teach “filth”.

Speaking to the Guardian Weingarten said Pompeo’s remarks were not just demagogic, but also dangerous, warning that they could incite violence. She said Pompeo, who also served as Donald Trump’s CIA director, attacked her because she is “Jewish, gay, teacher and union” and was clearly stoking rightwing hate as he considers a presidential run.