On Saturday, WVAS Radio’s Scott Simon profiled Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — and how the impeachment investigation is shaping his political situation.
“As the impeachment inquiry against President Trump continues its march through Congress, questions are churning around his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo,” wrote Simon. “For example, did he know, as witnesses testified before House investigators, that President Trump sought political favors from Ukraine in exchange for millions in U.S. assistance? Why did he take days to reveal he was on the now infamous July 25 call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy? And does he believe allies of the president who — despite the findings of the intelligence community — claim that Ukraine, not Russia, interfered in the 2016 election?”
As Simon noted, Pompeo’s path to becoming a member of Trump’s inner circle and a key figure in the impeachment inquiry was a long one. He began the 2016 election cycle as an opponent of Trump, citing his military experience and his credentials from West Point. “You know, Donald Trump the other day said that ‘if he tells a soldier to commit a war crime, the soldier will just go do it.’ He said, ‘They’ll do as I tell them to do,’” said Pompeo at the time. “We’ve spent seven-and-a-half years with an authoritarian president who ignored our Constitution. We don’t need four more years of that.”
Pompeo now appears to be looking for an exit.
“While Pompeo has not testified in Congress about the Ukraine controversy, he has had made time to do interviews with local Kansas media,” wrote Simon. “This has fanned speculation that Pompeo plans to leave Washington and run for a senate seat in Kansas, where McLean of the Kansas News Service says impeachment, Ukraine and quid pro quo sound a long way’s away … At this week’s NATO summit, President Trump told reporters he may ask Pompeo to return to Kansas to try to win a seat that would help Republicans keep control of the Senate.”
Nevertheless, the questions surrounding Pompeo’s role in the Ukraine affair are certain to follow him wherever he goes.