Pompeo suggests debunked Ukraine election meddling theory should be
probed
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[November 27, 2019]
By Jonathan Landay
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday suggested that Ukraine should be
investigated over allegations that it interfered in the 2016 election, a
debunked theory advanced by President Donald Trump that witnesses told
the congressional impeachment inquiry was spread by Russian spy
agencies.
Pompeo was asked at a news conference if the United States should probe
accusations of Ukrainian election meddling that Trump's fellow
Republicans have raised in the Democrat-led U.S. House of
Representatives probe into whether Trump abused his power for domestic
political gain.
"Any time there is information that indicates that any time any country
has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty
to make sure that we chase that down,” Pompeo replied without naming
Ukraine. He added that even a suggestion of interference should be
probed.
Pompeo said that in his first administration post of CIA director, the
agency used “every tool of American power” to deal with efforts by many
countries and groups to “undermine American democracy.” He did not
identify any of those entities.
His comments contrasted with his own endorsement of a 2017 U.S.
intelligence community assessment that Russia pursued an influence
operation of theft and dissemination of Democratic Party documents, fake
news and other means to benefit Trump over his 2016 Democratic foe,
Hillary Clinton. Russia denies interfering.
The impeachment inquiry is focused on whether Trump abused his power by
pushing Ukraine to probe the interference allegation and unfounded
corruption charges against former Vice President Joe Biden in return for
a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and
unfreezing U.S. security aid for his country to defend against
Moscow-backed separatists.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo holds a news conference at the
Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium November 20, 2019.
REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Biden is a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination to run
against Trump in next year's presidential election.
Witnesses at the House Intelligence Committee hearings have
testified that the allegation of Ukrainian election interference was
spread by Russia.
“This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and
propagated by the Russian security services themselves,” said Fiona
Hill, a former U.S. intelligence analyst who served as the top
Russia expert at the White House.
She said that Trump’s former homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert,
tried to disabuse Trump early in his term of the notion of Ukrainian
interference. Bossert in September called it “a completely debunked”
conspiracy theory.
Pompeo dodged a question of whether he would testify in the inquiry
after Trump tweeted that he would “love” for senior officials to
appear.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; editing by Matt Spetalnick and
Jonathan Oatis)
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