Aug 28, 2020 - Politics & Policy

House committee launches contempt proceedings against Pompeo

Marisa Fernandez

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo departs a meeting with members of the UN Security Council wearing mask — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Photo: Mike Segar/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The House Foreign Affairs Committee announced Friday that it will launch contempt proceedings against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over his refusal to comply with a subpoena for records related to the State Department's involvement in attempts to link Joe Biden to corruption in Ukraine.

Why it matters: Democrats on the committee say that Pompeo gave similar documents to Senate Republicans, alleging he has undertaken a "transparently political misuse of Department resources" and shown "an unprecedented record of obstruction and defiance of the House’s constitutional oversight authority."

What they're saying: "Mr. Pompeo has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the constitution provides to prevent government corruption," Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the committee's chairman, said in a press release,

"Mr. Pompeo’s final response makes it clear where he stands: the Department would turn over the documents if the Committee announced that we, too, were pursuing an investigation into the same conspiracy theory that’s been debunked again and again."
"Mr. Pompeo is demanding that the Committee do essentially the same thing Russia is doing, according the Office of the Director of National Intelligence: ‘spreading claims about corruption’ in order to 'interfere in the American presidential election.'"

Read State's response that prompted the contempt decision.

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House committee launches contempt proceedings against Pompeo

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