Key facts and latest news
- The State Department inspector general will brief congressional committee staff about unspecified documents on Wednesday.
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to House committees scheduling depositions from State Department officials, calling it an attempt to "bully" diplomats.
- House committee chairs warned Pompeo not to obstruct the impeachment inquiry.
- Pompeo confirmed that he was on a July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky where Trump urged Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.
- Soon after the call, White House officials moved a record of the call to a highly classified computer system, severely restricting who could access it.
Washington -- House Democrats leading the impeachment inquiry into President Trump are maintaining pressure on the State Department, warning Secretary of State Mike Pompeo against obstructing their probe.
On Tuesday, Pompeo accused Democrats of trying to "bully" and "intimidate" State Department officials by scheduling depositions about their involvement with President Trump's call with the Ukrainian president on short notice.
"I am concerned with aspects of your request, described more fully below, that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career Foreign Service Officers," Pompeo wrote to the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Pompeo was revealed to have been on the call between Mr. Trump and the Ukrainian president, a development first reported by The Wall Street Journal. That development prompted the chairmen of three committees to warn Pompeo he would be considered a "fact witness" and should play no role in dictating investigators' access to witnesses or documents.
"He should immediately cease intimidating Department witnesses in order to protect himself and the President," they said in a statement.
The clash comes ahead of a hastily scheduled mysterious briefing requested by the State Department's inspector general, who requested a meeting to review unspecified documents with staffers of relevant congressional committees on Wednesday afternoon. -- Stefan Becket
Pompeo confirms he was on call between Trump and Zelesnky
7:25 a.m. Addressing reporters in Rome during an overseas visit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed that he was on the July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky.
"I was on the phone call," he told the press. "I know precisely what the American policy has been with respect to Ukraine. It's been remarkably consistent, and we will continue to drive those sets of outcomes," he added.
The secretary neglected to answer questions on whether or not he had heard anything on the call that had raised any red flags, but said the call was about helping Ukraine get corruption of their government and "taking down the threat that Russia poses to Ukraine."
He said that effort will continue "even while all this noise in Washington is going on."
On the outstanding depositions for State Department officials to come before Congress, Pompeo argued that congressional committees had said State wouldn't be able to be present to protect information.
"What we objected to was the demands that were put...deeply violating fundamental principles of separation of powers. They contacted state department employees directly. Told them not to contact legal counsel in the State Department. They said that the State Department wouldn't be able to be present. There are important constitutional prerogatives that the executive branch has to be present so that we can protect important information so our partners, countries like Italy, can have confidence that the information they provide to the state department will continue to be protected," Pompeo explained.
He added of his stern letter to committee chairs: "So the response that I provided to them was one that acknowledged that we will of course do our Constitutional duty to cooperate with this co-equal branch but we are going to do so in a way that is consistent with the fundamental values of the American system."
"We won't tolerate folks on Capitol Hill bullying and intimidating state dept employees, that's unacceptable and its not something that I'm going to permit to happen," Pompeo urged.
Australia's PM downplays call with Trump
6:40 a.m. Prime Minister Scott Morrison downplayed his phone call with President Trump over the Russian interference probe, saying the conversation was not "ladled with pressure."
In an interview with Sky News, Morrison said Mr. Trump contacted him to ask "for a point of contact" for Attorney General William Barr's investigation into what triggered the FBI's Russia probe.
"A couple of weeks ago the president contacted me and asked for a point of contact between the Australian government and the U.S. attorney, which I was happy to do on the basis that was something we'd already committed to do," he said.
"It was a fairly uneventful conversation," Morrison defended, later calling the conversation "brief" and a "fairly polite request."
Barr had asked Mr. Trump to call Morrison to alert him that the attorney general would be reaching out, a department official previously told CBS News. The New York Times first reported the two leaders had spoken. Morrison was just one of several foreign officials Barr had sought out for assistance in the Department of Justice's review of the origins of the Mueller probe.
-- Emily Tillett
Giuliani threatens lawsuit against members of Congress
6:00 a.m. During his most recent appearance on Fox News, President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani said he's considering filing a lawsuit against individual congress members for violating his, the president's, and possibly the administration's civil and constitutional rights.
Although Giuliani only specifically cited House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff as a potential target, he says that Congress has "violated" the president's ability to perform Article 2 of the Constitution and violated Giuliani's attorney-client privilege.
In terms of his subpoena, Giuliani says he does not regret revealing on national television the text messages he has with Ukrainian officials and the state department. He admitted that he has "many more," however, Giuliani also said that turning them over was a "complicated" issue because they're all his "work product" as an attorney.
State Department inspector general to brief committee staff on Ukraine docs
Tuesday, 6:03 p.m.: The State Department's internal watchdog invited congressional committee staff to attend a briefing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday "to discuss and provide staff with copies of documents related to the State Department and Ukraine."
Inspector General Steve Linick invited Democratic and Republican staffers from eight House and Senate committees to attend the briefing. A copy of the invitation seen by CBS News was designated "urgent," and said the inspector general "obtained the documents from the Acting Legal Advisor of the Department of State."
Several senior congressional aides from the committees said they don't know what is in the documents and that the invitation came as a surprise to them.
"It could be anything," one aide said. -- Nancy Cordes
House Intel says ex-Ukraine envoy will testify as planned
4:50 p.m.: The special envoy to Ukraine who abruptly resigned his post after his apparent entanglement with Rudy Giuliani came to light will appear as scheduled for a deposition before House lawmakers on Thursday, a House Intelligence Committee official said.
Kurt Volker resigned Friday amid scrutiny over his supposed role in facilitating contacts between Giuliani and various Ukrainian officials. He was scheduled to appear before the House committees leading the impeachment probe on Thursday and will appear behind closed doors as planned, the official said.
The official said former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch will now appear on October 11, under an agreement reached with her counsel. She was previously scheduled to appear on Wednesday.
Both officials are among the five included in Pompeo's earlier letter to the committees protesting the demand for their testimony. -- Olivia Gazis and Stefan Becket
House chairmen accuse Pompeo of witness intimidation
2:32 p.m.: The chairmen of three House committees demanding documents from Pompeo and depositions of State Department officials responded to the secretary's letter Tuesday afternoon, accusing him of obstructing their investigation.
"Secretary Pompeo was reportedly on the call when the President pressed Ukraine to smear his political opponent. If true, Secretary Pompeo is now a fact witness in the House impeachment inquiry," the chairmen wrote. "He should immediately cease intimidating Department witnesses in order to protect himself and the President."
The letter came from the chairmen of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Intelligence Committee and Oversight and Reform Committee -- Eliot Engel, Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings, respectively.
"Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress -- including State Department employees -- is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry," the lawmakers continued. "In response, Congress may infer from this obstruction that any withheld documents and testimony would reveal information that corroborates the whistleblower complaint."
The chairmen said they are "committed to protecting witnesses from harassment and intimidation, and we expect their full compliance and that of the Department of State." -- Stefan Becket
Pompeo responds to Democrats' demand for depositions
10:51 a.m.: In a letter to the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Democrats of trying to "intimidate" and "bully" State Department officials with a request for testimony about their involvement in the Ukraine call. Pompeo said the committee's request does not provide enough time for the department and its employees to adequately prepare.
Pompeo, who is traveling in Italy, wrote that the request "can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career Foreign Service Officers."
He added, "Let me be clear: I will not tolerate such tactics, and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State."
On Friday, three committee chairs wrote to Pompeo informing him they had scheduled depositions for five officials: former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, former special envoy Kurt Volker, Deputy Assistant Secretary George Kent, State Department Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl and U.S. Ambassador to the E.U. Gordon Sondland. All five officials were mentioned in the whistleblower complaint.
Volker resigned abruptly from his post as special envoy for Ukraine on Friday and is scheduled to be deposed on Thursday.
The chairmen also issued a subpoena for documents from Pompeo related to the call. -- Emily Tillett
https://www.cbsnews.com/live-news/trump-impeachment-inquiry-latest-updates-today-2019-10-02/
2019-10-02 11:36:00Z
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