Report: Pompeo's senior adviser resigns as Ukraine controversy intensifies

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's senior adviser, Michael McKinley, is stepping down, The Washington Post reports.

McKinley is not happy that Pompeo has not publicly supported diplomats who have been mentioned as part of the Ukraine scandal, the Post says. A career diplomat who has served as ambassador to Afghanistan, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, McKinley was not directly involved in Ukraine policy, but as a top aide, he lets Pompeo know the mood inside the State Department.

Like McKinley, many inside the State Department are disheartened by Pompeo not backing up the diplomats, especially Marie Yovanovitch. Now on leave from the State Department and a fellow at Georgetown University, Yovanovitch was U.S. ambassador to Ukraine until May, when she was recalled. She was the target of a right-wing smear campaign, spread by President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and accused of being disloyal to the administration. As part of the impeachment inquiry, she has been summoned to testify before three House committees, and is scheduled to appear on Friday.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.