House subpoenas Pompeo for Ukraine files in Trump impeachment probe
House Democrats subpoenaed Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo for Ukraine-related documents Friday as they plunged into an impeachment
probe of President Donald Trump.
The heads of three House committees gave Pompeo one
week to produce the documents, saying a number of State Department officials
have direct knowledge of Trump’s efforts to enlist the Ukraine government’s
help in his domestic political campaign for reelection.
“The Committees are investigating the extent to
which President Trump jeopardized national security by pressing Ukraine to
interfere with our 2020 election and by withholding security assistance
provided by Congress to help Ukraine counter Russian aggression,” they said.
“The subpoenaed documents shall be part of the
impeachment inquiry and shared among the Committees. Your failure or refusal to
comply with the subpoena shall constitute evidence of obstruction of the
House’s impeachment inquiry,” they wrote.
The subpoena came one day after the release of an
intelligence official’s bombshell whistleblower complaint that describes Trump
pressuring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in a July 25 phone call to
supply dirt on Democratic political rival Joe Biden.
The complaint also describes the involvement of
Trump’s private lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who allegedly worked with several US
diplomats to pressure Zelensky to help Trump by investigating Biden.
Biden, the former US vice president, is the
Democratic frontrunner to battle Trump in next year’s presidential election.
“It has become clear that multiple State Department
officials have direct knowledge of the subject matters of the House’s
impeachment inquiry,” the subpoena said.
The committees also told Pompeo they planned to
depose five State Department officials in the next two weeks.
They include former ambassador to Ukraine Masha
Yovanovitch, whom Trump reportedly forced out earlier this year for resisting
his and Giuliani’s efforts to pressure Kiev to probe Biden.
