US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasts Ukraine critics for ‘silly gotcha game’ amid Trump impeachment inquiry
- Pompeo said he supported the administration’s demand that Ukraine open inquiries into alleged corruption that could target former vice-president Joe Biden’s son
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday defended the Trump administration’s approach to Ukraine, which is driving an impeachment inquiry in Congress, calling it typical of the transactional way countries deal with one another in the real world.
Pompeo supported the administration’s demand that Ukraine open inquiries into alleged corruption that could target former vice-president Joe Biden’s son and alleged interference in the 2016 US presidential election as reasonable, responsible and necessary to target corruption, ensure aid is spent properly, and protect America’s democracy.
Lawmakers have made President Donald Trump’s request last summer that Ukraine investigate the Bidens the centrepiece of an impeachment probe. A whistle-blower complaint said that Trump sought to use military assistance for Ukraine as leverage to push President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the 2020 Democratic hopeful.
Pompeo told an audience in Athens that the focus from the media and commentators on Trump and Ukraine is “wrong” because it does not “impact real people’s lives.”
“Instead they get caught up in some silly gotcha game,” he said, responding to a question from a Greek reporter after Pompeo delivered a speech on US-Greece relations.
