If the hearings on the Russia investigation seemed to be going in slow motion, with witnesses grudgingly appearing over a period of months and information being released at the rate of a drippy faucet, the impeachment inquiry is a comparative fire hose. Witnesses are now appearing before the inquiry on an almost daily basis, and subpoenas for other witnesses and documents are going out at an ever-increasing clip.
On Wednesday, the main witness was Michael McKinley, a former senior adviser to the secretary of state. McKinley resigned from the State Department just last week after reportedly being upset over Mike Pompeo’s failure to support former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. But the fact that Yovanovitch was removed in May and McKinley didn’t depart until the impeachment inquiry was underway in October suggests that there is more to it than just a grudge that simmered over months.
Much of the testimony that has come so far—from Yovanovitch, as well as from State Department Ukraine expert George Kent—has spoken to how experienced diplomats and foreign service officers were cut out of decisions and denied information regarding Ukraine after Rudy Giuliani ramped up his propaganda campaign in May. At that point, both Pompeo and acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney acted to sideline experts and prop up those willing to go along with the conspiracy theories behind the Ukraine scam.
McKinley was expected to speak to the same topic, telling House members about his concern over how the State Department—already hollowed out under Rex Tillerson—was being deliberately misused for political reasons. McKinley can also be expected to have had something to say about how Pompeo managed the State Department in general. As The Washington Post reports, McKinley frequently traveled with Pompeo and advised him “on a broad array of issues,” as well as using his long-standing connections inside and outside of the department to help Pompeo establish himself at State.
But when McKinley announced that he was leaving, Pompeo did not even bother to issue a memo noting the diplomat’s departure, even though McKinley was one of the department’s most senior members, with 37 years of experience.
McKinley was regarded as one of those who helped Pompeo boost morale at the State Department after Tillerson’s disdain and neglect left the entire department in shambles, with hundreds of unfilled positions. But when it came to a choice between standing up for the thin strand of experience that remained in the department or destroying that remaining experience in favor of supporting Trump’s fantasy quest, Pompeo does not seem to have given even token support to his staff.
Though the focus of McKinley’s testimony before the inquiry was to be the incidents around Ukraine, his opening statement was expected to range into other areas—such as a lobbyist who was brought into the State Department and compiled a list of employees she considered “insufficiently loyal to Trump.”
What the inquiry has uncovered in just its first two weeks is the extent to which America’s foreign policy had been turned away from supporting U.S. national interests and toward fueling Trump’s political concerns, and not just in Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine seems to represent one of the lowest payoffs for the highest efforts in political history. Trump was willing to destroy what remained of the State Department, crush relations with an ally, risk national security, and throw away decades of experience—all on the off chance of getting someone to voice a complaint against Joe Biden that was sure to be debunked, again, within hours. On a pure risk/reward basis, it’s nothing short of ridiculous.
No wonder Donald Trump keeps going bankrupt.
