Washington: The House impeachment inquiry is exposing new details about unease in the US State Department and White House about President Donald Trump’s actions toward Ukraine and those of his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
One witness said it appeared ‘three amigos’ tied to the White House had taken over foreign policy. Another quoted national security adviser John Bolton as calling Giuliani a ‘hand grenade’ for his back-channel efforts to get Ukraine to investigate Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden’s and son Hunter.
A former aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to speak to the House impeachment panels behind closed doors, Wednesday. Michael McKinley, who resigned last week, is a career foreign service officer and was Pompeo’s de facto chief of staff.
A source said that a Latin America specialist, McKinley wasn’t directly involved in Ukraine policy, but as a senior adviser to Pompeo was generally aware of the situation, the person said.
The 37-year veteran of the diplomatic corps was known to be unhappy with the state of affairs although his farewell note to colleagues mentioned nothing about the reason for his departure other than it was a ‘personal decision’.
The testimony from the witnesses, mainly officials from the State Department and other foreign policy posts, is largely corroborating the account of the government whistleblower whose complaint first sparked the impeachment inquiry, according to lawmakers attending the closed-door interviews.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, despite intensifying calls from Trump and Republicans to hold a formal vote to authorise the impeachment inquiry, showed no indication she would do so. She said Congress will continue its investigation as part of the Constitution’s system of checks and balances of the executive.
“This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious. We’re on a path that is taking us, a path to the truth,” Pelosi told reporters after a closed-door session with House Democrats.
Democratic leaders had been gauging support for a vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry after Trump and Republicans pushed them for a roll call. Holding a vote would test politically vulnerable Democrats in areas where the Republican president is popular.
Trump has called the impeachment inquiry an ‘illegitimate process’ and is blocking officials from cooperating.
Career State Department official George Kent testified Tuesday and he was told by administration officials to ‘lay low’ on Ukraine as ‘three amigos’ tied to the White House took over US foreign policy toward the Eastern European ally.
Kent felt the shadow diplomacy was undermining decades of foreign policy and the rule of law in Ukraine and that was ‘wrong’, said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va.
Connolly said Kent described a May 23 meeting at the White House, organised by Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, where three administration officials — US ambassador Gordon Sondland, special envoy Kurt Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry — declared themselves the people now responsible for Ukraine policy. “They called themselves the three amigos,” Connolly said Kent testified.
AP