The Mercury (Pottstown, PA)

Former Pompeo aide testifies; Senate talks impeachmen­t trial

- By Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick and Matt Lee

WASHINGTON >> The swiftmovin­g impeachmen­t probe pushed onward Wednesday as a former top State Department aide testified that the Trump administra­tion’s politiciza­tion of foreign policy contribute­d to his resignatio­n, while the Senate GOP leader briefed colleagues on a possible Christmas impeachmen­t trial.

The day’s events, interrupte­d by an explosive meeting with congressio­nal leaders at the White House, churned as longtime State Department officials are speaking out under subpoena — some revealing striking new details — about the actions of President Donald Trump, and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, toward Ukraine that have sparked the House impeachmen­t inquiry.

On Wednesday, Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s de facto chief of staff, told investigat­ors behind closed doors that the Trump administra­tion’s dealings with Ukraine were among the reasons he ended his 37-year career last week, according to multiple people familiar with the testimony, who, like others who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to discuss it.

Among those was the administra­tion’s failure to support Ukrainian Ambassador Marie Yovanovitc­h, who was ousted in March on orders from Trump. McKinley decried the politiciza­tion of U.S. foreign policy, according to the people familiar with the testimony.

McKinley, who as a Latin America expert was not specifical­ly involved in Ukraine, was also frustrated that there had been no response to an August inspector general’s report that found significan­t evidence of leadership and management problems, including allegation­s from career employees that Assistant Secretary of State Kevin Moley and his former senior adviser Marie Stull retaliated or tried to retaliate against them as holdovers from the Obama administra­tion.

Rep. Mark Meadows, RN.C., told reporters outside the closed-door hearing that McKinley was compliment­ary about Pompeo’s role but did raise other issues.

“I think most of this is a concern by a colleague for an ambassador that he held in high regard,” Meadows said, declining to provide more details of the closed session.

Republican­s are crying foul over the process of the impeachmen­t inquiry, but as House Democrats press on with the investigat­ion, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell briefed Republican­s about the possible trial ahead.

McConnell warned of a possible House impeachmen­t vote by Thanksgivi­ng that would force a trial in the Senate, likely by Christmas. He used slides and history lessons during a private Senate GOP lunch in the Capitol to talk about the process, according to a person familiar with the meeting.

Congressio­nal leaders abruptly ended an explosive meeting with Trump at the White House on the situation in Syria, with Trump calling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “third-rate politician,” according to Democrats, and Pelosi saying the president was having a “meltdown.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said he knows his House colleagues didn’t run for office to conduct an impeachmen­t investigat­ion, but he said, “The facts that are already in the public domain are so deeply troubling and must be taken very seriously.”

Another key figure in the impeachmen­t investigat­ion, special envoy Kurt Volker, returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to review the transcript of his Oct. 3 testimony to investigat­ors, according to a person familiar with his appearance.

Volker provided text messages to lawmakers that revealed an effort at the State Department to push Ukraine’s leader into opening an investigat­ion of the gas company Burisma, connected to the son of Trump’s potential 2020 Democratic rival Joe Biden, in return for a visit with Trump.

That effort soon escalated into what one diplomat feared was a quid pro quo for U.S. military aid. Trump has denied that, saying assistance to Ukraine was delayed to pressure the country into addressing corruption.

Another ambassador involved in those text message exchanges, Gordon Sondland, has been asked to appear Thursday.

The testimony so far from the witnesses, mainly officials from the State Department and other foreign policy posts, is largely corroborat­ing the account of the government whistleblo­wer whose complaint first sparked the impeachmen­t inquiry, according to lawmakers attending the closed-door interviews.

One witness said it appeared “three amigos” tied to the White House —Sondland, Volker and Energy Secretary Rick Perry — had taken over foreign policy. Another quoted national security adviser John Bolton as calling Giuliani a “hand grenade” for his back-channel efforts to get Ukraine to investigat­e Biden and Biden’s son Hunter.

Trump’s July 25 phone call in which he pressed Ukraine’s president , Volodymr Zelenskiy, to investigat­e Biden’s family is at the center of the Democrats’ inquiry.

Pelosi, despite intensifyi­ng calls from Trump and Republican­s to hold a formal vote to authorize the impeachmen­t inquiry, showed no indication she would do so. She said Congress will continue its investigat­ion as part of the Constituti­on’s system of checks and balances of the executive branch.

“This is not a game for us. This is deadly serious. We’re on a path that is taking us, a path to the truth,” Pelosi told reporters after a closed-door session late Tuesday with House Democrats.

Democratic leaders had been gauging support for a vote to authorize the impeachmen­t inquiry after Trump and Republican­s pushed them for a roll call. Holding a vote would test politicall­y vulnerable Democrats in areas where the Republican president is popular.

Trump calls the impeachmen­t inquiry an “illegitima­te process” and is blocking officials from cooperatin­g.

Rep. Adam Schiff, DCalif., the chairman of the House Intelligen­ce Committee overseeing the probe, has praised the State Department officials for stepping forward, under subpoena, to shed light on the matter.

“We have learned much of this thanks to the courageous testimony of the State Department officials who have been put in an impossible situation by the administra­tion,” which is urging them not to comply with requests to testify to Congress, he said. “They are doing their duty.”

Career State Department official George Kent testified Tuesday that he was told by administra­tion officials to “lay low” on Ukraine as “three amigos” tied to the White House took over U.S. foreign policy toward the Eastern European ally.

 ?? SUSAN WALSH - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ?? Michael McKinley, right, the top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, arrives for a joint interview with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligen­ce, and House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Capitol Hill in Washington,
SUSAN WALSH - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Michael McKinley, right, the top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, arrives for a joint interview with the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligen­ce, and House Committee on Oversight and Reform on Capitol Hill in Washington,

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