Democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters has entertained the idea of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo being arrested if he does not respond to a congressional subpoena in the Trump-Ukraine inquiry.
Speaking to MSNBC’s Ari Melber on Tuesday, Waters stated: “This president has instructed those who we’ve been subpoenaing not to come before our committee, not to cooperate. It is outrageous, what he is doing.”
Waters chairs the House Financial Services Committee, one of the six committees responsible for the ongoing impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump.
She said that if Mike Pompeo, who’s been subpoenaed, defies the lawmakers’ request to testify, he could be charged with obstructing the impeachment. “I certainly hope that it means we can drag him in or we can arrest him,” she added.
Hours before the interview, the 81-year-old congresswoman tweeted that Trump “needs to be imprisoned and placed in solitary confinement".
I'm calling on the GOP to stop Trump's filthy talk of whistleblowers being spies & using mob language implying they should be killed. Impeachment is not good enough for Trump. He needs to be imprisoned & placed in solitary confinement. But for now, impeachment is the imperative.
— Maxine Waters (@RepMaxineWaters) October 1, 2019
What is Congress investigating?
The House Democrats are investigating whether Donald Trump had pressed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to dig up damaging information on Joe Biden, a leading Democratic 2020 hopeful.
At the centre of the inquiry is a July phone call between Trump and Zelensky. A rough transcript of the call shows that Trump did ask Zelensky to investigate corruption allegations against the former vice president and his son in cooperation with his personal lawyer, Rudi Giuliani, and the US attorney general, William Barr.
It remains to be seen, however, if the US president had put pressure on his counterpart by holding back military aid to Ukraine in the days leading up to the call – a decision Trump maintains had nothing to do with the conversation.
Why is Pompeo Targeted?
The House Democrats have issued depositions for five current and former State Department officials and subpoenaed Mike Pompeo to turn over documents relating to the impeachment inquiry.
The Secretary of State – who reportedly also was on the problematic call – described the requests as “an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly” the State Department officials, and promised to “use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate” them.
Pompeo questioned whether the Democrats had the legal authority to compel appearance at depositions – effectively meaning that the officials may move to defy the requests.
Let me be clear: I will not tolerate such tactics, and I will use all means at my disposal to prevent and expose any attempts to intimidate the dedicated professionals whom I am proud to lead and serve alongside at the Department of State.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) October 1, 2019
Democratic congress members in charge of the inquiry responded to Pompeo’s letter in a joint statement on Tuesday, saying that if reports about Pompeo listening in on the call are true, he is a “fact witness” in the inquiry and should stop “intimidating Department witnesses in order to protect himself and the President”.
“Any effort to intimidate witnesses or prevent them from talking with Congress – including State Department employees – is illegal and will constitute evidence of obstruction of the impeachment inquiry,” the statement read.
Chairs of @HouseIntel, @HouseForeign and @OversightDems issue statement on Secretary of State Pompeo's stonewalling House impeachment inquiry:
— House Intelligence Committee (@HouseIntel) October 1, 2019
"He should immediately cease intimidating Department witnesses in order to protect himself and the President."https://t.co/AnoqbtSwwJ pic.twitter.com/gKsJhcMKyB
