Trump 'derailed' diplomats' careers 'for political reasons,' former State Department official will reportedly tell Congress
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Ex-Ukraine ambassador Marie Yovanovitch wasn't the only career diplomat who ran into trouble under President Trump, at least according to former State Department official Michael McKinley.
McKinley will testify behind closed doors for Congress' impeachment investigation Wednesday, following his surprising resignation as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's senior adviser last week. But a person familiar with McKinley's testimony has told The Washington Post that McKinley saw career diplomats "mistreated" and "their careers derailed for political reasons" while serving under Trump, and that he'll tell Congress all about it.
McKinley had spent 37 years in the State Department until his apparently "bitter" resignation last week, the Post writes. His resignation likely stemmed from Yovanovitch's firing as the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, and how the State Department did not "defend" her or "interfere with an obviously partisan effort to intervene in our relationship with Ukraine" for Trump's political benefit, the source said.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
But McKinley reportedly won't directly criticize Pompeo in his Wednesday testimony. He will instead will reiterate an August report from the department's inspector general that said Trump appointees alleged career diplomats were disloyal to Trump, the source says. McKinley will specifically focus on Yovanovitch's firing, "a punitive action he and many other rank-and-file diplomats viewed as wholly unjustified," the Post continues. Read more about McKinley's probable testimony at The Washington Post.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
The Olympic timekeepers keeping the Games on trackUnder the Radar Swiss watchmaking giant Omega has been at the finish line of every Olympic Games for nearly 100 years
-
Will increasing tensions with Iran boil over into war?Today’s Big Question President Donald Trump has recently been threatening the country
-
Corruption: The spy sheikh and the presidentFeature Trump is at the center of another scandal
-
‘One Battle After Another’ wins Critics Choice honorsSpeed Read Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won best picture at the 31st Critics Choice Awards
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
