众议院外交事务委员会将开始制定一项决议，任命国务卿迈克·庞贝纽约民主党众议员埃利奥特·恩格尔周五宣布，这是对该党的蔑视。
在一份冗长的声明中，恩格尔指责庞贝“令人震惊地无视管理他自己行为的法律和规则以及宪法为防止政府腐败提供的工具。”
美国国务院否认了这一说法，一名发言人告诉美国广播公司新闻，威胁的决议是“政治表演”和“纳税人资源的不幸浪费。”
这一指控是美国最高外交官和民主党领导的负责监督其机构的小组之间激烈斗争的升级。该委员会正在调查庞贝，因为他策划了该部门监察长的解雇，在共和党全国代表大会上发表了一次政治演讲，并拒绝交出提供给参议院共和党人领导的对前副总统乔·拜登的调查的文件。
这项藐视法庭的决议是基于庞贝拒绝向众议院委员会提供有关参议院对拜登的调查和去年秋季弹劾调查的文件。恩格尔说:“他似乎认为，他所担任的职务、所管理的部门、所监管的人员以及支付所有这些费用的纳税人的钱都是为了他的个人和政治利益。”
在这张2019年2月13日的档案照片中，众议院外交事务委员会主席埃利奥特·恩格尔在华盛顿国会山的众议院外交事务小组委员会听证会上发言。
参议院的调查始于去年11月，重点是拜登的儿子亨特和他在乌克兰能源公司布里斯玛(Burisma)董事会的职位——唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统向乌克兰总统施压，要求启动同样的调查，以换取安全援助和白宫会议。
7月下旬，恩格尔发出传票，要求司法部向共和党主持的参议院财政委员会、参议院国土安全委员会和政府事务委员会提供16000多页文件。相比之下，在弹劾调查期间，民主党主持的众议院委员会得到的信息很少。
在周四给委员会的一封信中，国务院拒绝了恩格尔的传票，并否认了他关于将这些文件提交给参议院的党派偏见的指控。
代理助理国务卿赖安·卡尔达尔在信中说，司法部与共和党领导的调查的合作并不是“不适当或不合法的，因为你不同意你的同事们的优先监督的优点。”
作为对恩格尔要求提供同样文件的回应，卡尔达尔还告诉他，国务院只会向他的委员会提供这些文件，“如果你能通过信函证实，该委员会实际上正在对涉及乌克兰的相同或非常相似的腐败问题以及与美国外交政策有关的腐败影响进行实质性调查。”
没有证据表明拜登或奥巴马政府在乌克兰政策中存在腐败。但据美国国家情报总监办公室称，特朗普频繁攻击亨特·拜登和一名亲俄罗斯的乌克兰政治家，助长了这一说法，并一直在追逐拜登的竞选。
2020年8月24日，美国国务卿迈克·庞贝和以色列总理本杰明·内塔尼亚胡在耶路撒冷举行联合新闻发布会。
在8月7日发布的一份评估报告中，国家情报局局长办公室的国家反间谍和安全中心主任说，俄罗斯政府正在采取积极的“措施，主要是诋毁前副总统拜登。”声明特别指出，乌克兰国会议员安德烈·德尔卡什“散布关于腐败的言论，包括通过公开泄露的电话来破坏”拜登和民主党。"
德尔卡什和他的助手们说，他向参议员罗恩·约翰逊的工作人员提供了“证据”，罗恩·约翰逊是调查拜登的两个参议院委员会之一的主席。约翰逊否认这是真的。
恩格尔在周五的声明中引用了ODNI的评估，指责庞贝试图将委员会拖入“对总统政治对手的诽谤。”
“我不想参与其中。在任何情况下，我都不会夸大普京被揭穿的阴谋论，也不会相信它们。我不会去袖手旁观，也不会看到委员会或众议院受到任何人如此蔑视。”
亨利·基辛格是面临藐视国会指控的最后一位国务卿，也是因为未能向委员会提供传票文件，但指控最终被撤销。
最近，众议院监督委员会投票认定司法部长比尔·巴尔和商务部长威尔伯·罗斯藐视法庭，而藐视国会是特朗普被弹劾的罪名之一。
House committee begins work to hold Pompeo in contempt, accusing him of amplifying 'Putin's debunked conspiracy theories'
The House Foreign Affairs Committee will begin work on a resolution to hold Secretary of StateMike Pompeoin contempt, its chair Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., announced Friday.
In a lengthy statement, Engel accused Pompeo of an "alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the Constitution provides to prevent government corruption."
The State Department rejected that claim, with a spokesperson telling ABC News the threatened resolution is "political theatrics" and "an unfortunate waste of taxpayer resources."
The charge is a fiery escalation in the fight between the top U.S. diplomat and the Democrat-led panel charged with oversight of his agency. The committee is investigating Pompeo for orchestrating the firing of the department's inspector general, for delivering a political speech to the Republican National Convention and for refusing to turn over documents provided to a Senate Republican-led probe of former Vice President Joe Biden.
The contempt resolution is based on Pompeo's refusal to provide the House committee with documents for that Senate probe of Biden and last fall's impeachment inquiry, Engel said: "He seems to think the office he holds, the Department he runs, the personnel he oversees, and the taxpayer dollars that pay for all of it are there for his personal and political benefits."
In this Feb. 13, 2019 file photo, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel speaks during a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing at Capitol Hill in Washington.
The Senate investigation started last November, focusing on Biden's son Hunter and his position on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian energy company -- the same kind of probe President Donald Trump pressed Ukraine's president to launch in exchange for security assistance and a White House meeting.
Engel issued a subpoena in late July for the more than 16,000 pages of documents the department provided to the Republican-chaired Senate Finance and Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees. In contrast, few were provided to the Democrat-chaired House committees during the impeachment inquiry.
In a letter to the committee dated Thursday, the State Department rejected Engel's subpoena and denied his accusation of partisanship in how it has turned over those same documents to the Senate.
The department's cooperation with the Republican-led probes is not "inappropriate or unlawful because you disagree with the merits of your colleagues' oversight priorities," acting Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs Ryan Kaldahl said in the letter.
In response to Engel's request for the same documents, Kaldahl also told him the department would only provide them to his committee "if you can confirm by letter that the Committee is, in fact, substantively investigating identical or very similar corruption issues involving Ukraine and corrupt influence related to U.S. foreign policy."
There has been no evidence of corruption by Biden or the Obama administration in its Ukraine policy. But the claim has persistently chased Biden's campaign, fueled by Trump's frequent attacks on Hunter Biden and by a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive for a joint news conference in Jerusalem, Aug. 24, 2020.
In an assessment released on Aug. 7, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence's National Counterintelligence and Security Center director said the Russian government is taking active "measures to primarily denigrate former Vice President Biden." Specifically, the statement said Andriy Derkach, a Ukrainian member of parliament, "is spreading claims about corruption -- including through publicizing leaked phone calls -- to undermine" Biden and the Democratic Party."
Derkach and his associates have said that he provided "evidence" to the staff of Sen. Ron Johnson, chair of one of the two Senate committees investigating the Biden's. Johnson has denied that's true.
Engel referenced the ODNI assessment in his statement Friday, accusing Pompeo of trying to drag the committee into "a smear of the President's political rival."
"I want no part of it. Under no circumstances will I amplify Putin's debunked conspiracy theories or lend them credence. And I won't stand by and see the Committee or the House treated with such disdain by anyone," Engel added.
Henry Kissinger was the last Secretary of State to face a contempt of Congress charge, also for failing to provide a committee with subpoenaed documents, but the charge was ultimately dropped.
More recently, the House Oversight Committee voted to hold Attorney General Bill Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in contempt, while contempt of Congress was one of the charges for which Trump was impeached.
