Pompeo confirms he was on Trump call with Ukraine president

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that he was on a phone call between President Trump and Ukraine’s president that contributed to the launch of a House impeachment inquiry. 

“I was on the phone call,” he said at a press conference in Rome. “I know precisely what the American policy is with respect to Ukraine. It’s been remarkably consistent and we will continue to try to drive those set of outcomes.”

“I was on the phone call.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo admits that he was on the July 25 phone call in which President Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. https://t.co/V5ORf33o8j pic.twitter.com/tmEBC1721Z

— CNN (@CNN) October 2, 2019

A whistleblower complaint released last week accused Trump of asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to look into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son for Trump’s personal gain.{mosads}

“Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me,” Trump said on the July 25 call, according to a memo released by the White House. 

House Democrats looking into the incident have called for five current and former State Department officials to testify, but Pompeo said Tuesday that they would not show up.

On Wednesday, he said the demands “deeply violate fundamental principles of separation of powers.”

“They contacted State Department employees directly, told them not to contact legal counsel at the State Department,” he said. “They said that the State Department wouldn’t be able to be present.”