In the Ukraine affair, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo does not want to obey as requested by the Democrats in the House of Representatives.
Because of severe procedural and legal shortcomings of the subpoenas, the statements on the given dates "not feasible," said in a letter in a letter from Pompeo to the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Democrat Eliot Engel.
Among other things, Pompeo complained that the deadlines set by the Democrats for the coming days did not allow sufficient time for the parties concerned and the ministry to prepare.
The subpoenas are part of investigations into potential impeachment of US President Donald Trump. He is accused of having pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selenskyj in a telephone conversation in late July to investigate what would harm his Democratic rival Joe Biden. The Democrats controlling the House of Representatives see it as an attempt by the Republican president to manipulate the November 2020 presidential election. Trump rejects the allegations.
Pompeo criticized the request to testify to his co-workers as "only to be understood as an attempt to intimidate, harass and inappropriately treat the respected foreign ministry staff". In a letter to Pompeo, the three committee chairmen summoned a total of five members of the Foreign Ministry on Friday. Among them is the former Special Envoy for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, who has submitted his resignation according to US media reports.
The chairmen of the examining committees in the House of Representatives then criticized Pompeo's refusal position. They called on him under threat of punishment not to intimidate witnesses or to prevent a statement from the congress. These included the witnesses who worked for the State Department, it said.
