Mike Pompeo Issued Subpoena By House Democrats Over Ukraine Documents
It would appear that House Democrats are moving full speed ahead on President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry after it was revealed on Friday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was given a one-week deadline, via federal subpoena, to hand over documents related to the Ukraine phone-call controversy.
According to The Hill, the subpoena was issued by Democratic committee leadership, including Rep. Adam Schiff, Rep. Elijah Cummings, and Rep. Eliot Engel. Contained within the formal request were the reasons why they chose to use subpoena powers to retrieve the documents they seek.
“Your continued refusal to provide the requested documents not only prevents our Committees from fully investigating these matters, but impairs Congress’ ability to fulfill its Constitutional responsibilities to protect our national security and the integrity of our democracy,” the three lawmakers wrote.
Not only did the letter verbally reprimand Pompeo for not turning over requested documents in a timely fashion, but it also laid out a strict deadline for Trump’s Secretary of State to comply.
“Pursuant to the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry, we are hereby transmitting a subpoena that compels you to produce the documents set forth in the accompanying schedule by October 4, 2019,” the letter read.
In a separate letter, the three representatives notified Pompeo that five additional State Department officials would be subject to dispositions, all of them to take place by October 10. Those officials include former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, State Department counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, former NATO ambassador Kurt Volker, State Department Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, and U.S. ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland.
The request for Pompeo to turn over the documents comes just days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stunned Washington, D.C., with the announcement that the House would launch a formal impeachment inquiry against Trump. This came amid reports from a whistleblower who claimed Trump pressured Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating his top 2020 political rival, former vice president Joe Biden.
Trump has remained firm in his accusations that the entire scandal is nothing more than a mainstream media and Democratic witch hunt. As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Trump demanded in a Friday tweet that Schiff, the House Intelligence Committee chairman, resign from his post.
The president accused Schiff of reading the transcript in a way that made him look guilty.
“He was supposedly reading the exact transcribed version of the call, but he completely changed the words to make it sound horrible, and me sound guilty,” Trump tweeted.
The president went on to accuse Schiff of lying to Congress and the American people before demanding the lawmaker “immediately resign.”
