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Impeachment inquiry pits Congress against White House
By Karen DeYoung, Josh Dawsey, Karoun Demirjian and John Hudson
Washington: The House impeachment inquiry broke into a full-throated battle between the executive and legislative branches on Tuesday.
In his letter, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would "not tolerate such tactics".Credit:AP
Congressional Democrats and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo traded threats and accusations, while President Donald Trump questioned whether a leader of the probe should be arrested.
Another senior Democrat said Trump should be imprisoned in "solitary confinement."
As the scope of the inquiry broadened, it touched a wide swath of top administration officials. In letters to Vice President Mike Pence and Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Senator Robert Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, demanded answers by Friday to questions about what they knew, when they knew it, and their roles in President Trump's actions regarding Ukraine.
But much of the day's turmoil centred on Pompeo, who said in a letter to the chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and Oversight committees heading the investigation that five State Department officials called to give depositions over the next two weeks would not appear as scheduled.
US Senator Bob Menendez.Credit:SUSAN WALSH
Pompeo characterised the effort to depose the officials as "an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly, the distinguished professionals of the Department of State."
Saying that Congress had no authority to compel such testimony, Pompeo wrote that he would "not tolerate such tactics, and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State."
By the end of the day, however, at least one of the five, former administration envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker, planned to appear anyway before the committees on Thursday. A second official, former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, would appear on October 11, according to an official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss lawmakers' deliberations.
Meanwhile, the committees were notified that the State Department's inspector general has requested to speak with them on Wednesday "to discuss and provide staff with copies of documents related to the State Department and Ukraine," according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post.
House Intelligence Committee chairman, Democrat Adam Schiff.Credit:AP.
It is unclear exactly what Linick will provide the committees. But the demand for any credible information related to Ukraine and the State Department is at a fever pitch as Democrats seek to build the case for Trump's ouster out of his newly revealed dealings with the government of Ukraine.
The inquiry centres on a whistleblower complaint, made public last week, alleging that Trump manipulated US foreign policy for political gain, withholding aid to Ukraine while pressing its government to investigate the activities of Democratic presidential challenger Joe Biden and his son. That charge appeared to be borne out in a rough transcript of the call released by the White House.
Trump, who had put a hold on nearly $US400 million ($595 million) in US military assistance to aid Ukraine in resisting Russian incursions in its territory, urged President Volodymyr Zelensky to work with Rudy Giuliani, his personal attorney, and Attorney General William Barr in investigating Biden.
He has charged that the former vice president intervened to squelch a corruption investigation of a Ukrainian company that employed his son, although Ukrainian officials have said Hunter Biden was not implicated in the investigation, which was later abandoned.
Pompeo's letter followed reports that the secretary, who has sought to publicly distance himself from Trump's Ukraine activities, was a participant in the July 25 call by Trump to Zelensky that is at the centre of the impeachment investigation.
The committee chairmen responded to Pompeo with their own broadside, saying any attempt to prevent department officials from speaking to them "is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction," according to a statement issued by Representative Eliot Engel, who heads the foreign affairs panel.
The State Department depositions will take place behind closed doors, and there has been no word on whether a transcript would be released. Volker, who the committee official said "has confirmed he will appear," did not respond to requests for comment.
In a morning Twitter barrage, Trump repeated his insistence, despite information in the White House rough transcript, that almost everything the whistleblower said about it was "wrong," and asked "Why aren't we entitled to interview & learn everything about the Whistleblower, and also the person who gave all the false information to him?"
Representative Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, who broadly paraphrased the call during a hearing last week, had "made up" a version of the exchange, Trump said. He questioned why Schiff wasn't being "brought up on charges."
Later in the day, others entered the fray. Representative Maxine Waters, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, said the impeachment inquiry could expand beyond Ukraine. Impeachment, she said, "is not good enough for Trump. He needs to be imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement."
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel accused House Democrats of attempting "a legislative coup d'etat" to get rid of Trump.
The Washington Post