Fire at home as Pompeo bolts abroad

WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is heading overseas to improve relations with Germany as he comes under increasing criticism at home for his role in the events that led to the House impeachment inquiry.

The State Department said on Tuesday that Mr Pompeo will meet German officials to discuss a European pipeline project opposed by the US. He will also join festivities to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Mr Pompeo’s Germany trip comes at a turbulent time amid the release of transcripts of testimony in the impeachment inquiry that has prominently featured State Department employees.

Several have testified that Mr Pompeo failed to halt a White House effort to improperly press Ukraine for dirt on Mr Trump’s rivals and did little or nothing to defend career diplomats from politically motivated attacks by the president and his supporters.

In Berlin, Mr Pompeo is to deliver a speech highlighting the US role in helping eastern and central Europe “throw off the yoke of communism’.’

In talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Pompeo will discuss growing US concerns about economic and strategic threats from Russia, China and Iran. He is expected to reiterate US opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which had been staunchly supported by Germany and Russia, officials said. The plan to transport natural gas through the Baltic Sea from Russia to Europe has come under fire from Washington and several European countries, who argue it will increase Europe’s dependence on Russia for energy.