House Foreign Affairs Committee chair Eliot Engel (D-NY) is raising questions about Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
In a series of Monday morning tweets, Engel argued that Pompeo’s indifference in defending ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch after her public testimony is tied to how “Pompeo was assisting in the scheme to pressure Ukraine to help Trump politically.”
Engel’s tweets also included a link to a New York Times report that outlined Pompeo’s role in Trump’s attempt to pressure the Ukrainian government into digging up false allegations against Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and his son Hunter, which includes phone conversations with Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Here’s the letter @LeaderHoyer and I sent to @SecPompeo in April.
We were puzzled by why the @StateDept let the attacks on Yovanovitch go unanswered. https://t.co/BI612U39Rj
— Eliot Engel (@RepEliotEngel) November 25, 2019
Engel added that Yovanovitch’s abrupt ouster is what prompted the House Foreign Affairs Committee to look into “this situation and Giuliani’s involvement.” He then went after Pompeo for defying the House committee’s subpoena by asking: “What else is he hiding?”
We know a lot more now, but @SecPompeo continues to ignore a duly authorized subpoena.
What else is he hiding?
Why is he covering for the President instead of standing up for American diplomats and our national security?
— Eliot Engel (@RepEliotEngel) November 25, 2019
Last month, Engel said during an interview on CBS that Pompeo has not been complying with the impeachment inquiry. Engel’s remarks came the day after Pompeo failed to meet the deadline for the House committees’ subpoena.
Earlier this month, Pompeo narrowly denied a claim by his former adviser Michael McKinley that he put a stop to a public State Department statement supporting Yovanovitch following her ouster.
