Ex-Pompeo aide rues politicization

In panel testimony, he decries U.S.’ dealings with Ukraine, sources say

Michael McKinley (right), former top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, heads to a closed hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where he reportedly testified that White House dealings with Ukraine helped spur him to retire last week after 37 years of service. More photos at arkansasonline.com/1017impeachment/
Michael McKinley (right), former top aide to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, heads to a closed hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill, where he reportedly testified that White House dealings with Ukraine helped spur him to retire last week after 37 years of service. More photos at arkansasonline.com/1017impeachment/

WASHINGTON -- The impeachment probe pushed onward Wednesday as a former top State Department aide testified that the President Donald 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 churned as longtime State Department officials are speaking out under subpoena -- some revealing striking new details -- about the actions of 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 privately 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 Marie Yovanovitch, the ambassador to Ukraine 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 President Barack Obama's administration.

Stull is a former lobbyist and consultant for the food and agricultural industry who left the department early this year after reports in Foreign Policy and other outlets revealed that she had compiled a list of employees she considered insufficiently loyal to Trump. Moley still holds his position, and officials have said Pompeo lacks the authority to dismiss political appointees, which diplomats say is not true.

The State Department accepted the recommendation of the report in August and said it would submit a "corrective action plan" within 60 days, but that deadline has passed. Officials have also said there is a second inspector general report that is critical of the firing of State Department officials under Pompeo's top Iran hand, Brian Hook, but that report has not been released yet.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., told reporters outside the closed 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.

'THREE AMIGOS'

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 Democratic presidential candidate 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.

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 interviews.

One witness said it appeared "three amigos" tied to the White House -- Volker, Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Gordon Sondland, another ambassador -- 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.

Sondland has been asked to appear today.

Earlier this week, Fiona Hill, a former top White House foreign policy adviser, told House impeachment investigators 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.

Hill did not accuse Sondland of acting maliciously or intentionally putting the country at risk. But she described Sondland as metaphorically driving in an unfamiliar place with no guardrails and no GPS, according to the people, who were not authorized to publicly discuss a deposition that took place in private.

Hill, former senior director for European and Russian affairs at the White House, also said she raised her concerns with intelligence officials inside the White House, one of the people said.

Sondland's lawyer declined to comment.

In her testimony, Hill described her fears that Sondland represented a counterintelligence risk because his actions made him vulnerable to foreign governments who could exploit his inexperience. She said Sondland extensively used a personal cellphone for official diplomatic business and repeatedly told foreign officials they were welcome to visit the White House whenever they liked.

Hill said his invitations, which were highly unusual and not communicated to others at the White House, prompted one instance in which Romanian officials arrived at the White House without appointments, citing Sondland.

Hill also testified that Sondland held himself out to foreign officials as someone who could deliver meetings at the White House while also providing the cellphone numbers of U.S. officials to foreigners, the people said. Those actions created additional counterintelligence risks, she said.

PELOSI STANCE

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.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, despite intensifying calls from Trump and Republicans to hold a formal vote to authorize the impeachment inquiry, showed no indication that she would hold such a vote. 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 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, D-Calif., 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."

Information for this article was contributed by Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick, Matt Lee, Zeke Miller, Michael Balsamo, Eric Tucker, Matthew Daly, Padmananda Rama, Andrew Taylor, Alan Fram and Jonathan Lemire of The Associated Press; by Carol Morello, John Hudson and Karen DeYoung of The Washington Post; and by Nicholas Fandos and Adam Goldman of The New York Times.

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AP/SUSAN WALSH

Rep. Mark Meadows (front) of North Carolina leads Republican House members to a closed impeachment hearing Wednesday on Capitol Hill. Meadows said State Department official Michael McKinley was complimentary of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo but said McKinley did raise other issues. Meadows provided no details.

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AP/ANDREW HARNIK

Former special envoy Kurt Volker leaves Capitol Hill on Wednesday after meeting with impeachment investigators reportedly to review a transcript of his Oct. 3 testimony.

A Section on 10/17/2019

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