In the middle of the process of impeachment to president Trump For his performances in Ukraine, which will happen in the next few days to the Senate, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has announced that he will visit Kiev this Friday. He will be the most prominent member of the US Administration in visiting the ex-Soviet country since, on July 25, there was a telephone conversation between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodimir Zelenski, which led to the investigation that has led to the House of Representatives to approve Trump’s impeachment, accused of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. In the next few days, the Senate will become a sort of jury that must decide on the (unlikely, given the Republican majority) dismissal of the 45th president of the United States.
The travel agenda includes a meeting with Zelenski, as confirmed by the State Department in a statement. Its purpose, the text explains, is “to reaffirm the support of the United States for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” The visit to Ukraine is the first stop of a trip that will take the head of US diplomacy to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Cyprus.
Pompeo will also meet with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Vadym Prystaiko, and the Defense Minister, Andriy Zagorodnyuk. Also with religious leaders and civil and business society, with the aim of discussing the reform agenda of the Kiev Government.
The meeting with Zelenski is scheduled for the same day that the Senate returns to its activity after the Christmas break. The leaders of both houses of Congress have not closed the terms in which the trial will take place of the president in the Senate, for the two charges derived from his alleged pressures to the Ukrainian president to announce investigations to the political rivals of President Trump.
The president of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, has not yet delivered to the Senate the articles of impeachment, in an attempt to obtain guarantees from the Republican majority of the upper House on the scope of the impending trial.
At the heart of the case is the accusation that Trump relied on the unlocking of a vital aid package to Ukraine, as well as a visit to the White House that the newly elected Zelenski craved, that he would announce the opening of two investigations into the activities in Ukraine of the son of Joe Biden, former vice president and now a Democratic candidate, as well as about the discredited theory that Kiev conspired with the Democrats to interfere in the 2016 presidential elections.
The announcement of Pompeo’s trip comes after Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer who is at the center of the plot, visited Kiev this month. Giuliani continues to press in Ukraine to obtain information that benefits his client politically. “I am excited to travel to Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Cyprus in the new year to meet with counterparts and affirm the priorities of the United States in Europe and Central Asia,” Pompeo said on Twitter.
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