Workers at the State Department are growing tired of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his leadership, particularly amid the growing Ukraine scandal, according to a new report.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that some employees at the department see President Donald Trump as abandoning career diplomats — and Pompeo as failing to speak up and have their backs.
The "prevailing mood is low and getting lower, if it can," former diplomat Thomas R. Pickering told the Post. Pickering served seven ambassadorships under six presidents representing both political parties.
The biggest concern is the Ukraine controversy. Trump is accused of trying to use U.S. military aid designated for Ukraine as a bargaining chip to persuade Ukraine to investigate interference in the 2016 U.S. election and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son. Biden is one of Trump's main rivals in the 2020 election.
Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani got involved in the Ukraine situation by speaking with the Ukrainians about the Biden matter, while earlier this year Trump fired U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who first joined the U.S. foreign service in 1986.
"All of us felt like she was incredibly shabbily treated," a senior western diplomat told the Post. "My understanding is that Pompeo was quite well briefed and took a passive role when the removal of Masha Yovanovitch happened. He couldn't have been ignorant of the subject matter or the interests at play."
Pompeo was on a July 25 phone call during which Trump spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about the aforementioned military aid and the Biden matter.
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