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.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was on ABC’s This Week program and naturally the whole Ukraine kerfuffle was discussed. Pompeo said some expected stuff. No, we’re not on the brink of war with Iran. No, we’re very unlikely to release the transcript of President Trump’s call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. No, Pompeo doesn’t see this a a particularly big deal.
But then there was this
On This Week, Mike Pompeo initially seems flustered by a question about the IC whistleblower complaint, but then says, "I do think if VP Biden behaved inappropriately…we need to get to the bottom of that"
Martha Raddatz interrupts to point out there's no evidence of wrongdoing pic.twitter.com/INtmtptH34
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) September 22, 2019
POMPEO: I think I saw a statement from the Ukrainian foreign minister yesterday, said there was no pressure applied in the course of the conversation. I do think — I do think, if Vice President Biden behaved inappropriately, if he was protecting his son and intervened with the Ukrainian leadership in a way that was corrupt, I do think we need to get to the bottom of that, Martha. And I — I hope that we will. I hope that, if Vice President Biden engaged in behavior that was inappropriate, I hope the American people will come to learn that. America can’t have…
RADDATZ: We’ve seen no evidence of that yet. But I want to go back to the question.
POMPEO: America cannot have our elections interfered with. America cannot have our elections interfered with. And if — if that’s what took place there, if there was that kind of activity engaged in by Vice President Biden, we need to know.
Two interesting points here.
First, Pompeo is not dismissing out of hand the stench of corruption than hangs over Joe Biden links to his ne’er do well kid getting a seat on the board of directors of a Ukrainian gas company run by one of their economic oligarchs and to Biden’s admitted interference in Ukraine’s judicial process to his son’s benefit. Second, he’s clearly tying Biden’s actions in relation to Ukraine to the efforts by the Obama administration…or at least the faction that was hoping to ride Mrs. Clinton’s more-than-ample-acres-wide coattails to continued power….to aid the Clinton campaign. (See Elizabeth Vaughn’s The Real Foreign Collusion Occurred Between Pro-Clinton Ukrainians And The DNC and U.S. Embassy Pressured Ukrainian Officials To End Investigation Of Soros Group In 2016.) The comment, “America cannot have our elections interfered with. And if — if that’s what took place there, if there was that kind of activity engaged in by Vice President Biden, we need to know,” nearly caused Martha Raddatz to stroke out.
Unlike Trump, Pompeo is not a bomb-thrower. I have to suspect that he has some reason to throw campaign interference into the mix other than mere amusement. Given the role the State Department played in moving the Steele Dossier into the proper channels, I have little doubt that there is more on that angle just waiting to be revealed.
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