Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who The Wall Street Journal put him on the scene where Trump “would pressure” Ukraine´s President to investigate Joe Biden, shut down today any possibility that his staff would be cited by the House of Representatives for the impeachment against the president.
In a letter sent to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike Pompeo went straight to the point. “Let me be clear: I will not tolerate such tactics, and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State,” he said.
With these words, the head of U.S. diplomacy prevents officials in his department who have been summoned by Congress to testify soon about the country’s relationship with Ukraine.
Among the officials who had been requested by the Foreign Affairs Committee and who had interviews scheduled to take their statements this week are Marie former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and Kurt Volker, who resigned last Friday as the State Department’s special envoy to that country.
Pompeo said on Tuesday that these congressional petitions are “an attempt to intimidate, bully and treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State.
However, the problems do not finish there, because today, a senior State Department official who spoke to The Wall Street Journal on condition of anonymity reported that Pompeo was one of the people who heard the call from Washington’s side.
Pompeo, tried last Thursday to unmark the State Department from the scandal over Ukraine in view of the growing suspicions in Congress about the possible role of the head of Foreign Affairs.
“As far as I know, and from what I’ve seen so far, each of the actions that were undertaken by the State Department officials was entirely appropriate and consistent with the objective we’ve had,” Pompeo said.
Now with his letter, the head of U.S. diplomacy goes on the offensive and criticizes the fact that the committee’s requirements include a vast amount of documents and that they try to prevent officials from receiving advice from the State Department’s legal team.
“Based on the profound procedural and legal deficiencies noted above, the dates the Committee´s requested dates for depositions are not feasible,” Pompeo argued in his letter.
Pompeo’s announcement comes after a week ago, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi announced an impeachment investigation against Trump for a July 25 telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Vladimir Zelenski, in which he asked him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, now a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, and his son for alleged corruption in that country.
Translated by: José Espinoza
Noticias Newswire
