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Pompeo Admits to Being on Trump Call With Ukrainian President

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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared to confirm previous reporting by the Wall Street Journal that he was not only aware of the July 25 phone call between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he was also on the call.

"I was on the phone call," Pompeo announced while participating in a news conference alongside Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio. "I know precisely what the American policy is with respect to Ukraine. It's been remarkably consistent, and we will continue to try to drive those sets of outcomes."

The call is at the center of a whistleblower complaint that's led to the House of the Representatives to launch an impeachment inquiry after the president reportedly withheld nearly $400 million in aid for Ukraine as leverage while urging the country's newly elected president to investigate his political rival, Joe Biden. Biden's son, Hunter, worked for a Ukrainian gas company that was under investigation. At the time, Biden, along with much of the international community, pushed to remove the prosecutor in charge of the case amid charges Ukraine's top prosecutor was doing nothing about corruption in the country.

Pompeo also said Tuesday that he would not allow the House committees involved in the impeachment inquiry to interview current and former State Department officials as part of the inquiry, saying that Democrats in the House were trying to "intimidate" and "bully" them.

"I am concerned with aspects of your request … that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career Foreign Service Officers, whom the committee is now targeting," Pompeo wrote in a letter to House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

The whistleblower's complaint, which was made public last week, showed that White House officials had been so concerned about the content of the call between Trump and Zelenskiy, they intervened to 'lock down' the transcript of the conversation. The whistleblower, who has not been identified, wrote that they believed Trump used "the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country" in the 2020 election.

Pompeo's admission comes as the Justice Department confirmed a report that Trump spoke with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, asking him to help investigate the origin of the U.S. counterintelligence probe of the Trump 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump has railed against the impeachment inquiry calling the proceedings led by Democrats a 'COUP."

"As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is a COUP intended to take away the Power of the 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!" Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday. "

Photo: Getty Images


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