Pompeo stands firm
White House defiant on impeach bid
SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo says the State Department will “follow the law” in the House impeachment inquiry and vigorously defended President Donald Trump, dismissing questions about his attempts to press Ukraine and China to investigate a political rival.
The Trump administration and Democrats often disagree about what the law requires, leaving open the question of how Mr Pompeo may interpret Democrat demands for information.
Mr Pompeo said the State Department wrote to Congress on Friday night as its initial response to the document request and added, “We’ll obviously do all the things we’re required to do by law.”
He has allowed Democrats to interview witnesses.
The administration has struggled to come up with a unified response to the investigation. Democrats have warned that defying their demands will in itself be considered evidence of obstruction and potentially impeachable.
Mr Pompeo was on the line during the July phone call in which Mr Trump pressed Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former vice-president Joe Biden and his son Hunter, sparking a whistleblower complaint and the impeachment inquiry.
Mr Pompeo had initially tried to delay a handful of current and former officials from co-operating with the inquiry.
Mr Pompeo did not back off his defence of Mr Trump’s call with Ukraine.
“There has been some suggestion somehow that it would be inappropriate for the United States government to engage in that activity and I see it just precisely the opposite,” he said. Mr Trump has offered a series of contradictory statements when it comes to the Democrats’ subpoena of White House records.
Asked on Wednesday if the White House intended to comply, Mr Trump told reporters, “I always co-operate,” even as he dismissed the inquiry as “a hoax”. A day later he had a different answer, saying he would leave the matter to his lawyers.
By Friday, however, Mr Trump confirmed the White House was writing to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arguing it could not undertake an impeachment inquiry without first voting to authorise one.