Top US diplomat struggles to shrug off impeachment inquiry

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tries to shrug off impeachment inquiry that has ensnared State Department and raised questions about his leership.

Pompeo portrays inquiry, which centers on President Donald Trump’s attempt to link U.S. military aid to Ukraine to a corruption probe of a political rival, as unworthy of his attention.

“I clearly follow this a lot less than you do,” Pompeo told reporters when asked about it issue Thursday while on a visit to Germany.

But Pompeo may t be able to maintain that show of indifference much longer. Three senior diplomats are scheduled to testify in public before Congress next week, bringing renewed attention to his leership as America’s top diplomat as U.S. juggles several major foreign policy challenges and he weighs a possible run for Senate from his home state of Kansas in 2020.

Despite damning accounts of urthodox, improper or even possibly illegal behavior under guise of diplomacy, Pompeo has struggled to remain above fray. He has repeatedly rejected process as “ise” and belittled those who ask him about it, calling ir questions “insane” or “crazy.”

Pompeo, testily answering reporters in Germany, said that bottom line was that nearly $400 million of aid that Ukraine needs to fight Russian-backed forces was cleared for delivery without investigations that Trump wanted Eastern European country to conduct into his rivals.

“That’s what happened in Washington with respect to Ukraine this year,” he said flatly.

impeachment inquiry centers around an effort led by Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to use American diplomats to press Ukrainian government into investigating appointment of former Vice President Joe Biden’s son to board of a gas company and a debunked conspiracy ory that people re interfered in 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Pompeo has drawn criticism for t doing more to shield diplomats working under him from being used as political tools of ministration and for t speaking out when president and his supporters denigrate career foreign service officers who have testified in inquiry.

“Never in my experience and never in modern period, post-1945, have you ever h a secretary of state more politicized, more constrained by his own political ambitions and his unwillingness to stand up to president or defend his own department than Mike Pompeo,” said Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official who is w at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Pompeo may have been heartened this week when a group of his employees gave him a standing ovation at a public diplomacy workshop. But behind scenes, officials say morale is plummeting at State Department over whole affair.

re are even fears that reaction to Pompeo’s handling of matter could result in a major wave of senior-level retirements and resignations that could decimate Foreign Service with a loss of experience and expertise for years to come, according to officials familiar with matter.

One official, who like ors feared possible retaliation and spoke on condition of anymity, described top human resources manrs as “literally begging” veteran diplomats who are w or soon-to-be eligible to retire to stay on job.

Miller, who worked under seven secretaries of state, said Pompeo has been “very bly damd” by Ukraine and that his actions, or lack of actions “pose a huge problem for Department of State, to whole tion of professionalism and public service.”

Steven Pifer, a retired career diplomat and former ambassor to Ukraine who w teaches at Stanford University, shared frustration of his former colleagues.

“At end of day, Pompeo’s audience is sitting in 1600 Pennsylvania and it’s got to be difficult when you see president vice president, White House spokeswoman all attacking you and your leer does t speak up for you,” Pifer said.

Pompeo has said impeachment process is unfair to State employees because y are t allowed to have department lawyers with m when y testify. He has said this this opens m up to possibly revealing information that is classified or covered by executive privilege.

Yet, from transcripts it is clear that diplomats are more concerned with unfair treatment from White House and Pompeo and his staff than from investigators.

Former ambassor to Ukraine Marie Yovavitch and former top Pompeo viser Michael McKinley testified that y were upset about “bullying” of career officials at hands of politically appointed State Department staff.

transcripts have also me clear that Pompeo resisted multiple appeals to issue statements in support of Yovavitch after she was ousted from her post under political pressure.

In testimony released on Monday, McKinley said he resigned when Pompeo refused to come to defense of Yovavitch after details of Trump’s negative comments about her to Ukraine’s president became public.

In testimony also released on Monday, Yovavitch told investigators that campaign against her, which included an article that was retweeted by Donald Trump Jr., undermined her ability to serve as a “credible” ambassor and she wanted Pompeo to issue a statement defending her. But statement was issued.