US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has confirmed that he was in attendance during a telephone conversation between the US and Ukraine Presidents on 25 July.
“I was on the phone call,” Pompeo told reporters during his visit to Italy on Wednesday, adding that the two presidents’ conversation focused on US policy priorities.
At the same time, he did not elaborate on whether he heard anything in the call that could seriously concern him.
The remarks came after the World State Journal cited an unnamed senior State Department official as saying that Pompeo was “among administration officials” who “listened in” on Donald Trump’s call to Volodymyr Zelensky.
In a separate development, Pompeo went on Twitter Tuesday to express concern over details of the country’s House Committee request related to President Trump’s impeachment probe.
I’m concerned with aspects of the Committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career FSOs. pic.twitter.com/QRtMaXlhQM
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 1, 2019
Pompeo also accused Democrats of sticking to what he described as “bully”-like tactics pertaining to the impeachment inquiry.
House Speaker Pelosi Initiates Impeachment Probe
His comments followed his being subpoenaed by three Democratic House committee chairmen last Friday to turn over documents related to the Trump administration's dealings with Ukraine, following the initiation of an impeachment inquiry into President Trump announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on 24 September.
She made the move after an alleged CIA whistleblower voiced alarm over the Trump-Zelensky call, part of which was released as a transcript.
During the call, Trump allegedly asked Zelensky to launch a probe into Joe Biden's ostensibly pressing Kiev to end a 2016 corruption investigation of a company on whose board Biden’s son, Hunter Biden, sat.
Pelosi, in turn, insisted that Trump's drive to prod Zelensky to investigate Biden’s moves should be seen as a go-ahead to intervene in the US election and that it may constitute a breach of Trump’s constitutional responsibilities, which justifies the ongoing impeachment attempt.
The US President has already slammed the impeachment inquiry as a “hoax” and a “coup” aimed to “take away the power of the people” as well as their “freedoms and their God-given rights as a citizen of The United States of America.”
In a separate tweet, he berated “all-the-do-nothing” Democrats for focusing on “impeaching the President for having a very good conversation with the Ukrainian President”
All the Do Nothing Democrats are focused on is Impeaching the President for having a very good conversation with the Ukrainian President. I knew that many people were listening, even have a transcript. They have been at this “stuff” from the day I got elected. Bad for Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2019
....People, their VOTE, their Freedoms, their Second Amendment, Religion, Military, Border Wall, and their God-given rights as a Citizen of The United States of America!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 1, 2019
