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Trump Pulled Plug on Pompeo's November Ukraine Trip Over Impeachment Heat
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-pulled-plug-on-pompeos-november-ukraine-trip-over-impeachment-heat
The secretary of state will visit Kyiv in January. But he was supposed to make a trip there in November—until the plans were abruptly canceled.
Erin Banco
National Security Reporter
Updated Dec. 20, 2019 8:43AM ET / Published Dec. 20, 2019 4:21AM ET
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to visit Ukraine in November following his trip to Germany to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling. But President Donald Trump, in coordination with the State Department, cut the Kyiv trip from Pompeo’s schedule at the last minute amid the ongoing impeachment process, according to a U.S. official and two other individuals familiar with the matter.
In the lead-up to the trip, the State Department had solidified most of the details of the travel to Ukraine, but in the final stages of planning the secretary’s office notified officials and staffers inside the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that the visit would not go forward. Trump had pulled the plug, according to those same sources, in part because the White House did not want administration officials landing in Ukraine during the impeachment investigation.
Pompeo also wanted to refrain from visiting the embassy in Kyiv because the top diplomat there, Bill Taylor, had told impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani pushed Ukraine to “intervene in domestic policy,” two individuals with knowledge of the State Department’s thinking said. Taylor also said he was aware that the delivery of U.S. military aid to Ukraine was contingent upon President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration launching investigations sought by the White House. His deposition transcript was released the day Pompeo landed in Germany.
“I told Ambassador Sondland that President Trump should have more respect for another head of state,” Taylor said in his deposition, referring to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, one of the U.S. officials who helped establish a backchannel with Ukraine. “At that point, I asked Ambassador Sondland to push back on President Trump’s demand.”
The White House and the State Department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
</snip>
The secretary of state will visit Kyiv in January. But he was supposed to make a trip there in November—until the plans were abruptly canceled.
Erin Banco
National Security Reporter
Updated Dec. 20, 2019 8:43AM ET / Published Dec. 20, 2019 4:21AM ET
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to visit Ukraine in November following his trip to Germany to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling. But President Donald Trump, in coordination with the State Department, cut the Kyiv trip from Pompeo’s schedule at the last minute amid the ongoing impeachment process, according to a U.S. official and two other individuals familiar with the matter.
In the lead-up to the trip, the State Department had solidified most of the details of the travel to Ukraine, but in the final stages of planning the secretary’s office notified officials and staffers inside the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that the visit would not go forward. Trump had pulled the plug, according to those same sources, in part because the White House did not want administration officials landing in Ukraine during the impeachment investigation.
Pompeo also wanted to refrain from visiting the embassy in Kyiv because the top diplomat there, Bill Taylor, had told impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani pushed Ukraine to “intervene in domestic policy,” two individuals with knowledge of the State Department’s thinking said. Taylor also said he was aware that the delivery of U.S. military aid to Ukraine was contingent upon President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration launching investigations sought by the White House. His deposition transcript was released the day Pompeo landed in Germany.
“I told Ambassador Sondland that President Trump should have more respect for another head of state,” Taylor said in his deposition, referring to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, one of the U.S. officials who helped establish a backchannel with Ukraine. “At that point, I asked Ambassador Sondland to push back on President Trump’s demand.”
The White House and the State Department did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
</snip>
If this was the case, why was Rudy running around Ukraine last week?
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