The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sources: Ex-aide quit over Ukraine
A former top aide to Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, told impeachment investigators on Wednesday that he resigned because he was upset that the Trump administration had wrestled Ukraine policy away from career diplomats, according to three people familiar with his closed-door deposition to the House Intelligence Committee. In several hours of continuing testimony, Michael McKinley, who until last week was a senior adviser to Pompeo, described his mounting frustration with how politicized the State Department had become under President Donald Trump, saying that the last straw for him was the ouster of Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine whom Trump ordered removed.
The latest
McKinley’s testimony was the latest in a string of accounts given by top career diplomats and administration officials to impeachment investigators about how experts were sidelined as the president pursued his own agenda on Ukraine, including in a July telephone call when Trump asked President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democrats.
Taken together, the interviews have corroborated many aspects of the intelligence whistleblower complaint that prompted the impeachment inquiry, which alleged that Trump abused his power to enlist a foreign government for his own political gain.
What it means
Though McKinley told lawmakers that he did not have detailed knowledge about the Ukraine matter, he said the handling of the issue was emblematic of a troublesome trend at the State Department, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe a closed-door deposition. He spoke of his frustration with Rex Tillerson, the former secretary of state, saying he had gutted the department, and praised Pompeo for his leadership.
But McKinley said he was alarmed at how poorly diplomats were treated.
Yovanovitch, a 30-year veteran of the Foreign Service, testified privately last week that she was abruptly removed from her post after a monthslong push by Trump to get rid of her on the basis of “unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives.”
What they’re saying
“Another career Foreign Service officer with a 33-year career trying to do the right thing,” said Rep. Harley Rouda, D-Calif., as he left the deposition. Rouda said that McKinley, like some other witnesses, provided the committees with an opening statement.
Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., said after he left the hearing room that McKinley had been “complimentary of Secretary Pompeo” and made clear he was “supportive” of Yovanovitch.
What’s next
The steady stream of diplomats and White House officials have appeared before the committees despite Trump’s vow not to cooperate with the inquiry. McKinley’s testimony further sets the stage for today’s expected deposition of Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union and a Trump loyalist.
A former top White House foreign policy adviser told the House impeachment investigators this week that she viewed Sondland as a potential national security risk because he was so unprepared for his job, according to two people familiar with her private testimony.