Senate Democrats ask Pompeo to recuse himself from Ukraine matters

Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee are calling on Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to recuse himself from matters relating to Ukraine after several witnesses in the impeachment inquiry mentioned him as part of their testimony.

“Given your direct involvement in the scandal, you have a profound conflict of interest and you must recuse yourself,” the group of 10 senators wrote in a letter to Pompeo as House Democrats on Thursday wrapped up two weeks of public testimony from various figures.

Their letter follows testimony from Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, in which Sondland said that Pompeo was among a group of officials who were “in the loop” about efforts to pressure Ukraine to say it would pursue investigations that President Trump wanted in exchange for a White House call and meeting.

Pompeo has also said he was on the July 25 call between Trump and Ukraine’s president that is at the heart of the impeachment probe. 

The Democrats in their letter accused the Trump Cabinet member of continuing “to impede the House impeachment inquiry, including by refusing to produce any State Department records on the Trump-Ukraine scandal—including those that may shed further light on your own complicity.”

“These acts leave us with little doubt that you are blocking the Congress and American people from obtaining a full account of the scandal solely because the facts are damaging to your and the President’s personal and political interests,” they added. 

The Hill has reached out to the State Department for comment on the letter. 

Pompeo said said Wednesday that he had not seen Sondland’s testimony, citing meetings, after being asked by a reporter about the testimony.

The Thursday letter was signed by Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez (N.J.), Ben Cardin (Md.), Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.), Christopher Coons (Del.), Tom Udall (N.M.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.) and Cory Booker (N.J.).