The House Foreign Affairs Committee is beginning proceedings to hold Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in contempt of Congress, saying that Pompeo has refused to turn over documents under subpoena.
In a statement, Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY) said, “From Mr. Pompeo’s refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry to his willingness to bolster a Senate Republican-led smear against the President’s political rivals to his speech to the RNC which defied his own guidance and possibly the law, he has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the constitution provides to prevent government corruption.”
Chair @RepEliotEngel: From Mr. Pompeo’s refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry to his willingness to bolster a Senate Republican-led smear against the President’s political rivals to his speech to the RNC… he has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws & rules. pic.twitter.com/YU8p7Q0t9j
— House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems (@HouseForeign) August 28, 2020
Engel added, “He seems to think the office he holds, the Department he runs, the personnel he oversees, and the taxpayer dollars that pay for all of it are there for his personal and political benefit.”
Engel is particularly angry that Pompeo has stonewalled the House committee while one of his top aides has ordered that documents be given to a Senate probe led by Republicans into Joe Biden. In an August 17 memo, the State Department asked officials to put together documents on the 2016 Russia investigation.
The Senate probe is being led by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa). Democrats have decried the probe as blatantly partisan and aimed only at hurting Joe Biden.
Johnson has admitted that his probe could help Trump get re-elected, saying in an interview, “I would think it would certainly help Donald Trump win reelection and certainly be pretty good, I would say, evidence about not voting for Vice President Biden,”
Citing the Director of National Intelligence, Engel accused Pompeo of pushing Russian propaganda and said, “I want no part of it. Under no circumstances will I amplify Putin’s debunked conspiracy theories or lend them credence. And I won’t stand by and see the Committee or the House treated with such disdain by anyone.”