Records show contact between Pompeo and Giuliani ahead of Ukraine ambassador’s ouster
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had several phone calls with President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Rudolph Giuliani, toward the end of March, weeks before U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch was unceremoniously recalled from her post, according to documents released under court order late Friday.
The documents – released by the State Department in the course of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by American Oversight, an ethics watchdog – do not offer details about what was discussed in the calls. They do show staff efforts to set up phone conversations between Pompeo and Giuliani, and confirmation that the calls took place.
Records show that at least one of the calls was set up by Madeleine Westerhout, who at the time was White House director of Oval Office operations, suggesting the connection was facilitated by President Trump.
They also reveal a private April letter to Pompeo from senior House Democrats, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Foreign Affairs committee chairman Eliot Engel, expressing displeasure with Yovanovitch’s treatment in Kiev.
Giuliani led a smear campaign targeting Yovanovitch, according to several White House and State Department officials, who this week testified in the House impeachment inquiry examining whether Trump directed an improper quid pro quo with Ukraine.
Trump is accused of conditioning a White House meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and possibly the release of military assistance, on Kiev’s public announcement of political investigations into Democrats.
The records also show memos from Giuliani addressed to Pompeo detailing his discussions with Ukrainian prosecutors regarding Yovanovitch, former Vice President Joe Biden and his family, and claims of Ukrainian involvement in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
They note as well as a phone call between Pompeo and Rep. Devin Nunes of California — Republican ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee who himself has been charged with conducting opposition research on Democrats overseas — mere days after speaking with Giuliani.
“We can see why Mike Pompeo has refused to release this information to Congress,” Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement. “It reveals a clear paper trail from Rudy Giuliani to the Oval Office to Secretary Pompeo to facilitate Giuliani’s smear campaign against a U.S. ambassador.”
While the documentation and sequencing of Pompeo’s communications with Giuliani are new, their contacts were initially previewed by Under Secretary of State David Hale in his deposition and testimony before House lawmakers in recent weeks.
The release of documents further implicating Pompeo in the scheme comes on the same day that Trump for the first time publicly addressed the prospect of his secretary of state running for Senate in Kansas.
In a 52-minute interview with Fox & Friends, Trump dismissed the impeachment inquiry, called for a Senate trial and publicly floated Pompeo for the Kansas race.
“Mike would win easily in Kansas. Great state,” Trump said. “If he thought there was a chance of (the GOP) losing that seat, I think he would do that, and he would win in a landslide because they love him in Kansas.”
Now, Pompeo might face new political headwinds in light of the records release, and after witness testimony this week that directly implicated him in Trump’s effort to trade official acts for political investigations with the government in Ukraine.
Speaking before the House Intelligence Committee, Gordon Sondland, Trump’s ambassador to the European Union, told lawmakers that he worked at the “express direction” of Trump to facilitate a quid pro quo with Ukraine with Pompeo’s knowledge.
The ambassador shared texts and emails with the committee that showed direct communication with Pompeo and his top aides approving of the exchange and encouraging him to work with Rudolph Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney not employed by the U.S. government.
Those emails were not a part of the Friday release, which only included communications from Pompeo and his inner circle to individuals outside the government.
The State Department released the records hours before a court-ordered deadline was set to expire.
Updated to account for Under Secretary of State David Hale’s testimony.
Bryan Lowry contributed to this report.
This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 11:38 PM.
