Ilhan rips Pompeo for complaining Dems are “bullying” his staff: Trump called me a “savage”
As the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump by the House of Representatives picks up speed, the Trump administration is doing everything in its power to prevent the investigators from accessing information from executive branch officials who may be able to provide further information and deeper insight into the facts of the president’s illegal attempts to recruit foreign interference in the upcoming presidential election.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — who was just discovered to be intimately involved in the scandal by virtue of his previously undisclosed participation in the call that Trump conducted with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky — contributed to the continuing obstruction of the Democrats’ probe by accusing the House of attempting “to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State” by virtue of subpoenaing their testimony to relate what they know about the call and everything that preceded and followed it.
I’m concerned with aspects of the Committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, & treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State, including several career FSOs. pic.twitter.com/QRtMaXlhQM
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 1, 2019
Secretary Pompeo seemed to engage in a tunnel vision view of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s request for testimony as he attributed those sinister motives as the only possible interpretation of the subpoena, intentionally ignoring the legislative body’s constitutionally mandated role in overseeing the actions of the executive branch particularly in cases where the legality of the administration’s moves are concerned.
One of the Democratic congresswomen who have been among the recipients of actual intimidation and bullying from Donald Trump himself lept into the fray when she replied to Pompeo’s characterization of the investigation with her own definition of bullying learned through her personal experiences.
Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) — one of the progressive freshman Democrats in “the squad” so demonized by the president — forwarded a link to a Wall Street Journal article detailing Pompeo’s baseless charges and demolishing the Secretary of State’s argument in one short tweet.
Bullying is telling women of color Congresswomen to “go back.”
Bullying is calling those same Congresswomen “savages” and “pro-terrorist.”What bullying is *not*: carrying out our constitutional duty to hold this administration accountable. https://t.co/eeHWJFMoJx
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 1, 2019
Of course, in our polarized nation, Congresswoman Omar’s message was already common knowledge among her Democratic supporters, while it will likely be ignored or dismissed by anyone who still has even a smidgen of trust in Donald Trump.
Still, what the Minnesota representative proclaimed needed to be said to counterbalance Pompeo’s ludicrous evasive actions or, as they should be more properly referred to, his obstruction of a legitimate impeachment inquiry for which he will hopefully be held personally accountable when the investigations are complete.
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