CIA Director Mike Pompeo, picked to be the next secretary of state, listens during his introductions before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during a confirmation hearing on his nomination to be Secretary of State, Thursday, April 12, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington. Pompeo’s remarks will be the first chance for lawmakers and the public to hear directly from the former Kansas congressman about his approach to diplomacy and the role of the State Department, should he be confirmed to lead it. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Chairman Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., Ranking Member Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds Pompeo’s confirmation hearing Thursday.

Late last night, we got word that the State Department Inspector General has called an “urgent” briefing with Congress to share something related to the Ukraine matter. What that something is become a little clearer this morning if we are to believe the anonymous sources.

* U.S. State Department Inspector General plans to brief congressional committees on recent instances of potential political retaliation by agency leadership against career officials over Ukraine — two sources familiar with matter

(via @reuters)

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) October 2, 2019

What exactly is the game here? There’s a lot of different directions to speculate in.

Mike Pompeo, just this week, sent out a letter to Congress warning them that he and his department would not be intimated into cooperation. My colleague streiff wrote about that, which you can read at this link. That letter came after Adam Schiff tried to play tough guy and asserted that any refusal to give him what he wants (even if the law doesn’t require it) would be treated as “obstruction of justice.” Funny enough, Schiff has no power to prosecute anyone on the basis of such fantasies.

While my original thought was that it probably had something to do with Pompeo’s letter, Mollie Hemingway is getting word this is actually old news.

Senior admin official says issue being briefed by State Department IG is actually four months old. Some confusion about why matter is being suddenly transformed into an "urgent" issue.

— Mollie (@MZHemingway) October 2, 2019

If this is true, it’s evidence of more subversive nonsense being propagated. What makes this “urgent” now if it is four months old? What changed? Nothing as far as I can tell except the Democrats asking for more fodder. Suddenly, they seem to be getting it even though the issue appears to be outdated.

And if you are wondering about the politics of this IG, you probably won’t be surprised to learn he was put in place by Barack Obama. The State Department itself is full of careerists that would much rather be serving under Hillary Clinton right now.

There’s going to be a lot more to come on this later today, as Schiff will undoubtedly leak whatever he tells them almost immediately. At the moment though, it appears another Democrat bureaucrat is trying to rush things out there to feed the narrative against the President. If this issue is truly four months old, there’s absolutely no excuse to present it as urgent now. We’ll see where this all goes.

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