House Democrats Warn State Department To Halt All Interference In Impeachment Inquiry

As the clash over the brewing Ukraine scandal and the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump intensifies between the administration and House Democrats , the chairs of three House committees have urged the State Department and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to halt all efforts to interfere in their investigations.

Any effort by the department or Pompeo to intimidate or prevent witnesses from testifying or withhold documents from the Committees is a criminal violation, warned the chairs of the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees in a letter Tuesday . Such behavior would also constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry.

Any effort by Sec. Pompeo to intimidate or prevent witnesses from testifying will add to evidence that the Trump Admin is obstructing Congress.

Given Pompeo's own potential role in the affair, it will also create the inference that he is trying to cover up illicit activity. https://t.co/rtniky524i

Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) October 1, 2019","type":"rich","meta":{"author":"Adam Schiff","author_url":"https://twitter.com/RepAdamSchiff","cache_age":86400,"description":"Any effort by Sec. Pompeo to intimidate or prevent witnesses from testifying will add to evidence that the Trump Admin is obstructing Congress. 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Any effort by Sec. Pompeo to intimidate or prevent witnesses from testifying will add to evidence that the Trump Admin is obstructing Congress.

Given Pompeo's own potential role in the affair, it will also create the inference that he is trying to cover up illicit activity. https://t.co/rtniky524i
Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) October 1, 2019

The Democrats stern warning was written in response to a fiery letter by Pompeo sent earlier in the day to Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

In his letter, Pompeo objected to attempts by House committee leaders to depose five current and former State Department officials , arguing that the timeline proposed for the depositions was unfeasible. House Democrats were attempting to intimidate and bully officials, Pompeo said.

I will not tolerate such tactics, he said.

Im concerned with aspects of the Committees 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

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Im concerned with aspects of the Committees 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

In their response, Engel, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) said it was Pompeo and his department who were employing tactics of intimidation.

The committee leaders also suggested Pompeo was attempting to cover up illicit activity and misconduct.

Pompeo appears to have an obvious conflict of interest, the chairmen wrote, noting that the secretary of state was reportedly on a July 25 call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump urged Ukraines leader to dig up dirt on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden .

If true, Secretary Pompeo is now a fact witness in the impeachment inquiry. He should not be making any decisions regarding witness testimony or document production in order to protect himself or the president, the chairmen wrote.

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Given the Secretarys own potential role the Committees may infer that he is trying to cover up illicit activity and misconduct, including by the President. This would be a blatant cover-up and a clear abuse of power, they added.