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.

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