WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated Friday he “by no means heard” that his prime envoy to Ukraine, Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch,
WASHINGTON — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stated Friday he “by no means heard” that his prime envoy to Ukraine, Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch, may need been under surveillance earlier than she was recalled to Washington, accused of being disloyal to President Trump.
“Till this story broke, I had, to the very best of my recollection, had by no means heard of this in any respect,” Mr. Pompeo instructed Hugh Hewitt, a well-liked conservative radio present host.
He didn’t supply some other particulars during the 11-minute interview besides to say that he had “by no means met” Lev Parnas, an affiliate of Rudolph W. Giuliani, Mr. Trump’s private lawyer. In text messages launched this week by Home Democrats, Mr. Parnas is proven to have been in communication final March with a Trump supporter and Republican congressional candidate, Robert F. Hyde, an ex-landscaper with a historical past of erratic episodes who claimed to have been in contact with somebody in Kyiv who was conducting surveillance on Ms. Yovanovitch.
Ms. Yovanovitch was instructed to return to Washington in late April, months forward of schedule, after Mr. Trump’s eldest son described her as a “joker,” and different conservatives denounced her for unfounded accusations of corruption and disloyalty to Mr. Trump.
The newly launched paperwork, which surfaced simply because the Senate opened the impeachment trial towards Mr. Trump, have prompted Ukraine to open its own investigation into whether or not its legal guidelines and worldwide treaties that shield the fitting of diplomats had been violated.
Ukraine “can not ignore such unlawful actions” on its territory, the nation’s Inside Affairs Ministry stated Thursday.
Within the textual content messages with Mr. Parnas, Mr. Hyde prompt he was in contact with somebody who was intently monitoring Ms. Yovanovitch. In a single message he reported that she was “underneath heavy safety” exterior of Kyiv, and went on to say that his “man” there thought the safety could be supplied by the F.S.B., the Russian federal safety company.
A number of days later he instructed Mr. Parnas that the “guys” in Ukraine had been “prepared to assist” for a value. “Guess you are able to do something within the Ukraine with cash,” he instructed Mr. Parnas.
No proof has surfaced publicly that Mr. Hyde had contacts in Ukraine. Mr. Hyde has stated he was “taking part in with” Mr. Parnas when he despatched the messages, and Mr. Parnas has dismissed Mr. Hyde as somebody who was usually drunk. A lawyer for Mr. Parnas, Joseph A. Bondy, stated that the textual content messages indicated that his shopper didn’t participate in any doable surveillance.
However Ms. Yovanovitch’s lawyer, Lawrence S. Robbins, has described the brand new proof as “disturbing” and stated that he anticipated “acceptable authorities” to analyze.
In a second interview on Friday, with the conservative commentator Tony Katz, Mr. Pompeo stated the protection of American diplomats was a prime precedence, together with what “was happening in Kyiv up and thru the spring of final yr when Ambassador Yovanovitch was there, and in our embassy in Kyiv even as we speak.”
He additionally prompt that the State Division was investigating the doable surveillance towards Ms. Yovanovitch, though his aides beforehand had refused to reply questions on whether or not that will occur.
“We’ll do every little thing we have to do to judge whether or not there was one thing that occurred there,” he instructed Mr. Katz. “Our obligation, my obligation as secretary of state, is to be sure that we consider, examine.”
American diplomats for months have seethed over Mr. Pompeo’s lack of outward assist for — or protection of — Ms. Yovanovitch, a extremely revered international service officer who had served as one thing of a mentor for different ladies within the State Division.
Within the interview with Mr. Katz, Mr. Pompeo repeated that he had by no means met Mr. Parnas and “I’ve by no means encountered, by no means communicated with him.” And he described the impeachment to Mr. Hewitt as “this noise right here in Washington.”