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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPompeo Gets Drawn Deeper--Way Deeper--Into the Ukraine Scandal
Whatever hope Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had of staying in the background of the House Democratic impeachment inquiry evaporated under the heat of Ambassador William Taylors damning deposition. House Democrats are now redoubling their efforts at pulling Pompeo deeper into an impeachment inquiry the secretary has met with defiance.
Taylor, the acting ambassador to Ukraine, told legislators on Tuesday that Pompeo loomed large in what Taylor described as an irregular effort to make assistance to Ukraine contingent on the young Volodomyr Zelensky governments willingness to investigate Trumps domestic political rivals.
In a letter to Congress earlier this month, Pompeo said he would hold on to relevant communications and materials in order to protect career diplomats and officials in his department. Now, though, congressional staffers tell The Daily Beast they are again attempting to gain access to key evidence and say Pompeos reasoning for withholding is shallow. Those staffers pointed to the State Departments history of mistreating officials for their perceived disloyalty to the Trump administration.
Pompeo is not just a yes man to the president, he is a hell-yes man, said Thomas Countryman, who retired from State in January 2017 after a three-decade diplomatic career. Its been especially disappointing that as he is asked hard questions, he adopts the Trumpian style of refusing to engage in substance and going into ad hominem attacks. It reminds me of the old RCA ads: His Masters Voice.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/pompeo-gets-drawn-deeperway-deeperinto-the-ukraine-scandal
empedocles
(15,751 posts)[Pompeo been to Kansas 4 times this year, said to be (sniffing?) around for a Senate run].
UTUSN
(70,710 posts)maxsolomon
(33,345 posts)Hollow out the State Department of competent career professionals, and use it to further Trump's self-aggrandizement. Leave it dysfunctional, understaffed and obedient.
Impeach Pompeo, too.