Ex-Pompeo adviser tells Congress he resigned over Trump's attacks on Yovanovitch

Source: Politico | October 16, 2019 | Andrew Desiderio

Michael McKinley became the latest official to testify behind closed doors in the impeachment inquiry.

A former top adviser to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told House impeachment investigators on Wednesday that he abruptly resigned last week because of President Donald Trump’s attacks on the ousted U.S. ambassador to Ukraine and the State Department’s unwillingness to protect career diplomats from political pressure, according to two people familiar with the testimony.

Michael McKinley, a career foreign service officer, had a front-row seat to Pompeo’s decision-making at the State Department. Like other current and former officials who have testified for the impeachment inquiry, he told investigators that he was deeply alarmed at efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump’s political rivals.

The solicitation of foreign assistance to dig up dirt on Joe Biden and other Trump antagonists — a campaign spearheaded by the president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani — has been at the center of House Democrats’ impeachment inquiry.

Lawmakers and aides have heard from several witnesses behind closed doors who described their concerns about the decision to recall Marie Yovanovitch, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine whom Trump and Giuliani vehemently criticized.

McKinley, according to people familiar with his testimony, said he resigned in part because Trump blasted Yovanovitch during his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. McKinley said that the State Department was not doing enough to shield officials like Yovanovitch from politically motivated criticisms.

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