JUST IN: House Foreign Affairs Committee Announces Contempt Proceedings Against Mike Pompeo for RNC Speech, Defying Subpoena

Following his widely condemned address in support of President Donald Trump during the Republican National Convention, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo now finds himself in hot water with Congress over the speech, and other alleged misconduct.

On Friday, the House Foreign Affairs committee announced that it will begin work on a resolution to hold Pompeo in contempt of Congress. The committee cited Pompeo’s ongoing refusal to comply with their subpoena into his records as a primary reason why it is initiating the contempt proceedings.

In a statement, outgoing Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) — who chairs the committee — slammed Pompeo over what he called an “alarming disregard” for the law.

“From Mr. Pompeo’s refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry to his willingness to bolster a Senate Republican-led smear against the President’s political rivals to his speech to the RNC which defied his own guidance and possibly the law, he has demonstrated alarming disregard for the laws and rules governing his own conduct and for the tools the constitution provides to prevent government corruption,” Engel wrote. “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 benefit.”

In a virtual press conference earlier this week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) condemned potential Hatch Act violations during the RNC, but suggested that looking into such possible misconduct is not a top priority at the moment.

“The American people — they know these people are unethical and illegal and doing things outside the law, what they want to know is what we’re going to be doing for them,” Pelosi said. “And we’d rather have our focus be very much on how we’re going to protect their health care, how we’re going to create good paying jobs, how we’re going to take our country in a forward direction.”

But Pelosi did reference the actions that Rep. Engel was then considering, and is now taking.