The chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee has threatened to subpoena Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to obtain documents covering U.S. foreign policy with Tehran and President Trump’s order to kill Iran’s top general.
Democratic New York Rep. Eliot Engel made the threat at a committee hearing on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Engel said he would write to Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper requesting information on Iran.
“I think the administration is not being straight with the country or the Congress,” Engel said. “If Secretary Pompeo is not going to cooperate with the committee, then we will consider very strongly taking other action in the future, including subpoenas.”
Pompeo was invited to attend the hearing but did not appear. He was on a trip to California as the hearing took place.
Trump ordered a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 2 that killed Iran’s top general and terror leader, Qassem Soleimani. The Iranian military commander has planned and approved numerous attacks on American soldiers in the Middle East using proxy groups such as the Taliban.
Trump gave the order after Soleimani orchestrated a violent protest outside of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The administration has argued that the strike was legal based on Soleimani’s status as a terrorist and necessary to prevent “imminent” attacks against U.S. assets.
The Fake News Media and their Democrat Partners are working hard to determine whether or not the future attack by terrorist Soleimani was “imminent” or not, & was my team in agreement. The answer to both is a strong YES., but it doesn’t really matter because of his horrible past!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 13, 2020
The House reacted to the strike by passing a resolution largely along party lines to rein in Trump’s war powers. Democratic lawmakers have criticized Trump, Pompeo, and other officials for not presenting evidence of the “imminent” strikes Tehran was allegedly planning.
