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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 2 OctOber 2019

Pompeo, Democrats trade intimidation charges in Trump probe

he had listened in during view of White House au- want to hear from T. Ulrich
Trump's July phone call with thority and setting a tone Brechbuhl, a counselor
Ukrainian leader Volody- for conflicts to come. at the State Department,
myr Zelenskiy that helped "I will use all means at my who also listened in on the
trigger the impeachment disposal to prevent and ex- Trump-Zelenskiy call, they
inquiry. pose any attempts to intim- said.
"Any effort to intimidate idate the dedicated pro- It's unclear whether Pom-
witnesses or prevent them fessionals," Pompeo wrote. peo will comply with the
from talking with Congress When issuing a separate committees' request for
— including State Depart- subpoena last week as part documents by Friday. He
ment employees — is il- of the inquiry, the chairmen had declined to comply
legal and will constitute of the three House com- with their previous requests
evidence of obstruction of mittees made it clear that for information.
the impeachment inquiry," stonewalling their investi- Pompeo, traveling in Italy
said three House chairmen, gation would be fought. to meet with the country's
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte, right, and U.S. Secretary of
State, Mike Pompeo pose for the media following their meeting Adam Schiff of the intelli- "Your failure or refusal to president and prime minis-
at Chigi Palace premier's office in Rome, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2019. gence committee, Eliot En- comply with the subpoena ter, ignored shouted ques-
Associated Press gel of Foreign Affairs, and shall constitute evidence of tion about the impeach-
Elijah Cummings of Over- obstruction of the House's ment inquiry on Tuesday.
By LISA MASCARO, MARY phone call seeking help sight. impeachment inquiry," the The House investigators are
CLARE JALONICK and JON- from the new Ukrainian They said that if he was three chairmen wrote. prepared for battle as they
ATHAN LEMIRE president in investigating on Trump's call, "Secretary Democrats often note that probe more deeply into
Associated Press Democratic political rival Pompeo is now a fact wit- obstruction was one of the State Department to
WASHINGTON (AP) — Set- Joe Biden and Biden's son ness in the House impeach- the impeachment articles try to understand why the
ting a defiant tone, the Hunter. ment inquiry." And they against Richard Nixon, who administration sought to
Trump administration re- In a Tuesday evening tweet, warned, "He should imme- resigned the presidency in restrict access to Trump's
sisted Congress' access to Trump cast the impeach- diately cease intimidating 1974 in the face of almost conversations with foreign
impeachment witnesses ment inquiry as a coup "in- Department witnesses in or- certain impeachment. leaders.
Tuesday, even as House tended to take away the der to protect himself and Volker played a direct role The whistleblower alleged
Democrats warned such Power of the People, their the President." in arranging meetings be- in an Aug. 12 letter to Con-
efforts themselves could VOTE, their Freedoms, their On Wednesday, the State tween Rudy Giuliani, who gress that the White House
amount to an impeach- Second Amendment, Reli- Department's inspector is Trump's personal lawyer, tried to "lock down" Trump's
able offense. gion, Military, Border Wall, general is expected to brief and Zelenskiy, the chair- July 25 phone call with the
Secretary of State Mike and their God-given rights congressional staff from men said. new Ukrainian president
Pompeo tried to delay five as a Citizen of The United several House and Sen- The State Department said because it was worried
current and former offi- States of America!" In fact, ate appropriations, over- that Volker has confirmed about the contents being
cials from providing docu- a coup is usually defined as sight, foreign affairs and that he put a Zelenskiy ad- leaked to the public.
ments and testimony in a sudden, violent and ille- intelligence committees viser in contact with Giu- In recent days, it has been
the impeachment inquiry gal seizure of government on their requests for infor- liani, at the Ukraine advis- disclosed that the admin-
that could lead to charges power. The impeachment mation and documents on er's request. istration similarly tried to
against President Donald process is laid out in the U.S. Ukraine, according to an The former envoy, who has restrict information about
Trump. But Democrats were Constitution. aide familiar with the plan- since resigned his position Trump's calls with other for-
able to set closed-door Pompeo said the Demo- ning. The inspector general and so is not necessarily eign leaders, including Rus-
depositions for Thursday crats were trying to "intimi- acts independently from bound by Pompeo's direc- sia's Vladimir Putin and Sau-
for former special envoy date" and "bully" the ca- Pompeo. tions, is eager to appear di Arabia's Mohammed bin
to Ukraine Kurt Volker and reer officials into appearing The committees are seek- as scheduled on Thursday, Salman, by moving memos
next week for ousted U.S. and claimed it would be ing voluntary testimony said one person familiar onto a highly classified
Ambassador Marie Yova- "not feasible" as demand- from the current and for- with the situation, but un- computer system.
novitch. ed. House investigators mer officials as the House authorized to discuss it and "It's going to be one heck
The escalating exchange countered that it would be digs into State Department granted anonymity. The of a fight to get that infor-
of accusations and warn- illegal for the secretary to actions and Trump's other career professional be- mation," Schiff told House
ings signaled yet another try to protect Trump by pre- calls with foreign leaders lieves he acted appropri- Democrats during a con-
stiffening in the confronta- venting the officials from that have been shielded ately and wants to tell his ference call over the week-
tion between the execu- talking to Congress. from scrutiny. side of the situation, the end, according to a person
tive and legislative branch- Some Trump supporters In halting any appearanc- person said. granted anonymity to dis-
es amid the Democrats' cheered Pompeo's muscu- es by State officials, and Yovanovitch, the career cuss the private session.
launching of the impeach- lar response to the Demo- demanding that executive diplomat whose abrupt As Trump continued to rage
ment inquiry late last week. crats. But it also compli- branch lawyers accompa- recall from Ukraine ear- against the impeachment
That followed a national cated the secretary's own ny them, Pompeo is under- lier this year raised ques- inquiry, there was little evi-
security whistleblower's situation, coming the day scoring Attorney General tions, is set to appear next dence of a broader White
disclosure of Trump's July after it was disclosed that William Barr's expansive week. The Democrats also House response.q