But Pompeo serves as one of the president’s most trusted advisers and loyal deputies from his perch atop the State Department, and his ambitions for higher office have been recently complicated by his involvement in the Ukraine scandal at the center of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Trump on Tuesday asserted that “you could never find anybody that can do a better job as secretary of State” than Pompeo, and remarked that “if you look at polling, Mike would walk away with that seat.”

But the president also acknowledged that if he believed there was a risk a Democrat could replace Roberts, he would “sit down very seriously and talk to Mike and find out how he feels about it.”

Trump made similar comments about a potential Pompeo candidacy last month during an interview on “Fox & Friends,” saying: “If he thought there was a chance of losing that seat, I think he would do that. And he would win in a landslide because they love him in Kansas.”

Pompeo said he had “ruled out” a Senate bid during an appearance on NBC's “Today” show in February, but has since remained coy regarding a possible run.

“Yeah, I would have never dreamed that I’d be the secretary of State even a year before I became the director of the CIA, a year before that,” he told a Kansas City radio station in July. “And so I always leave open the possibility that something will change and my path in life will change too, but my mission set ... is really very clear.”

On Monday, the hosts of “Fox & Friends” asked Pompeo to weigh in on a report last month by Time magazine stating that he had informed a trio of prominent Republicans of his plans to exit the administration and enter the Kansas Senate race.

Pompeo claimed there was “nothing at all” to the story, adding: “As long as President Trump will have me as his secretary of State, I'm going to continue to do this important work.”