Tag: Trump State Department

Senior State Dept. Ukraine Expert Says White House Sidelined Him

New York Times logoGeorge Kent told investigators he was cut out of Ukraine policymaking and told to “lay low” on it, after a May meeting orchestrated by Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff.

WASHINGTON — A senior State Department official in charge of Ukraine policy told impeachment investigators on Tuesday that he was all but cut out of decisions regarding the country after a May meeting organized by Mick Mulvaney, the acting White House chief of staff, describing his sidelining by President Trump’s inner circle as “wrong,” according to a lawmaker who heard the testimony.

The revelation from George P. Kent, the deputy assistant secretary in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, emerged as he submitted to hours of closed-door testimony to the House committees investigating how President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rivals.

Despite an edict by the White House not to cooperate with what it has called an illegitimate inquiry, Mr. Kent was one of a procession of top officials who have made the trip to the secure rooms of the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill, unspooling a remarkably consistent tale. They have detailed how Mr. Trump sought to manipulate American policy in Ukraine to meet his goals, circumventing career diplomats and policy experts and inserting his personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani into the process, raising alarms in the West Wing and throughout the government.

View the complete October 15 article by Nicholas Fandos, Kenneth P. Vogel and Michael D. Shear on The New York Times website here.

Mike Pompeo’s laughable defense of Syria withdrawal inspires fierce backlash: ‘Building foreign mobster ties is not a coalition’

AlterNet logoAs President Donald Trump continues to face widespread criticism over his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria and abandon the United States’ Kurdish allies, others in his administration find themselves defending the withdrawal — including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is being lambasted after posting a tweet that tried to put a positive spin on things.

The news coming out of northeastern Syria this week following the withdrawal is dismal. With an incursion of Turkish troops, the Kurdish forces who has been helping the U.S. are turning to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad out of desperation — and there are reports of captured ISIS fighters escaping in the chaos.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department tweeted an interview in which Pompeo told Nashville’s WZTV-TV that the U.S. was “leading from the front” to “build out coalitions that can effectively deal with some of the most difficult challenges facing the world today.” And it wasn’t long before Twitter was full of angry responses to that tweet.

View the complete October 15 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

Mike Pompeo’s State Department homepage advocates ‘being a Christian leader’

AlterNet logoThe website of the U.S, Department of State currently features a photograph of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the words, “Being a Christian Leader.”

The link on the State Dept. homepage goes to a video and the text of Pompeo’s speech to the American Association of Christian Counselors in Nashville, Tennessee on October 11.

Secretary Pompeo’s speech focuses on how he leads the Dept. of State as a devout Christian. He says he keeps a Bible open on his desk and refers to it during the day.

View the complete October 14 article by David Badash from the New Civil Rights Movement on the AlterNet website here.

State sought to block Yovanovitch testimony, say Democrats

The Hill logoThe Trump administration sought to block the congressional deposition Friday of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, leading House Democrats to issue a subpoena for her appearance — and ultimately compelling her to testify Friday, according to Democratic committee leaders.

Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from Ukraine to Washington in May, arrived at the Capitol Friday morning and is testifying behind closed doors before members of the three House committees — Intelligence, Oversight and Reform, and Foreign Affairs — leading the Democrats’ impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

Her appearance came just three days after the White House counsel issued a letter warning House Democrats that the administration will not cooperate with requests for documents or witness testimony as part of the ongoing probe. The missive raised questions as to whether Yovanovitch had been cleared by the State Department to appear on Capitol Hill or if she’d defied the White House at risk of potential retribution.

View the complete October 11 article by Mike Lillis on The Hill website here.

Pompeo adviser resigning: report

The Hill logoA senior adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has resigned from his position as the State Department faces lowering morale amid the Ukraine scandal, according to a new report.

Michael McKinley, a career diplomat who has held posts including ambassador to Afghanistan, Colombia and Peru, has stepped down, The Washington Post reported Thursday.

Pompeo was reportedly expected to announce the departure in a statement on Friday.

View the complete October 10 article by Rachel Frazin on The Hill website here.

Scoop: EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland to testify next week

Axios logoU.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland will testify next Wednesday before the House committees investigating President Trump and Ukraine, despite being blocked by the State Department from appearing at a closed-door deposition this week, 4 congressional sources tell Axios.
Driving the news: Sondland’s lawyer confirmed Friday that the ambassador does plan to testify — “notwithstanding the State Department’s current direction not to testify.”

Why it matters: One source familiar with the rescheduling tells Axios that after the State Department pulled the plug on Sondland’s testimony, Republicans close to Trump encouraged the president to let the ambassador come before the committees. Trump’s allies believe Sondland’s testimony will be helpful to their side.

View the October 10 post by Alayna Treene on the Axios website here.

Trump Would ‘Love’ For Sondland To Testify — But Won’t Let Him

Donald Trump said on Tuesday that U.S. Ambassador the European Union Gordon Sondland was a “really good man and great American” and that he only wished he could let him testify before Congress about Trump’s questionable actions with regard to Ukraine.

Trump’s comments come just after the State Department abruptly cancelled a planned congressional hearing with Sondland on Tuesday morning. The ambassador had been scheduled to give transcribed testimony for the House impeachment inquiry about his role in Trump’s growing Ukraine scandal.

House Democrats have since said they will subpoena Sondland for his testimony and related documents.

View the complete October 9 article by Josh Israel on the National Memo website here.

State orders EU ambassador not to testify before House

The Hill logoA key witness in the House impeachment inquiry was ordered not to appear at a scheduled deposition on Tuesday, ramping up tensions between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration.

The State Department instructed Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland not to appear for the deposition, according to his counsel.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) later lashed out at the State Department, saying Sondland has messages on a personal device that are relevant to the impeachment inquiry. He and the chairmen of two other House panels said they would issue a subpoena to Sondland.

View the complete October 8 article by Cristina Marcos and Alicia Cohn on The Hill website here.

Pompeo says he sent response to House investigators, but subpoenaed documents remain undelivered

Washington Post logoSecretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that he had responded to the House committees seeking documents in their impeachment inquiry of President Trump, but congressional investigators say they are still waiting for Pompeo to comply with their subpoena.

Also, Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union ensnared in the impeachment inquiry of President Trump, has agreed to meet behind closed doors Tuesday with the three panels — Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and House Oversight — spearheading the probe, according to a committee aide. On Saturday, the official confirmed the schedule on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

NBC News first reported Sondland’s planned appearance.

View the complete October 5 article by Karen DeYoung, Karoun Demirjian and Colby Itkowitz on The Washington Post website here.

A Show of Contempt

Trump and his aides ignore subpoenas in an effort to marginalize Congress.

They ignore congressional subpoenas and refuse to testify before Capitol Hill committees. When they do show up, their disdain is obvious, as they berate and belittle elected representatives. President Donald Trump himself lobs insulting nicknames at Democratic lawmakers, and declared outright that he no longer considers House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, second in line to take Trump’s job, to be the speaker.

Never mind contempt of Congress, a sanction being weighed for members of the Trump administration who refuse to cooperate with House inquiries. Now, the White House and its supporters have turned the tables, brazenly displaying a contempt for Congress. It’s an approach that not only frustrates Congress’ efforts to serve as a check and balance to the executive branch, but marginalizes the authority of the legislative branch with the American people, analysts say.

“They’re trying to delegitimize the House of Representatives. They’re trying to delegitimize our most democratic branch,” says law professor Victoria Nourse, who worked on the Senate Iran-Contra Committee and is now executive director Georgetown Law’s Center on Congressional Studies.

View the complete October 4 article by Susan Milligan on The U.S. News and World Report website here.