Defense Secretary Mark Esper did not take part in a July phone call between President Trump and the president of Ukraine, the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday, but, a spokesman said, the department will be preserving documentation related to a freeze on military aid to the country.
“Today, the general counsel of the Department, in keeping with past practice on matters of importance and to ensure that all appropriate department information is available on this matter, directed that DOD offices should provide any pertinent documents and records to the Office of General Counsel for cataloguing and review,” chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said during a press briefing.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed on Wednesday that he listened in on the July 25 call. Other officials also were on the call, but Esper, who had taken office two days prior, was not one of them.
“To my knowledge, no one from the Department of Defense was on that call,” Hoffman said. “I’ve specifically asked [the] Secretary of Defense that question and he was not on that call.”
Details of the call have become the focus of the House Democratic leadership’s upcoming impeachment inquiry into Trump. Prior to the call, Trump reportedly put a hold on U.S. military aid to Ukraine. He then urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike. Trump released the call transcript following a whistleblower complaint filed in August by a member of the intelligence community.
Three House committees subpoenaed Pompeo on Friday for documents related to Trump and Ukraine, giving him an Oct. 4 deadline to respond. Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani also was subpoenaed on Monday to provide documents related to the whistleblower complaint.
Hoffman said he was “not aware of any requests” for Esper to produce similar documents, though he acknowledged Congress has sent a letter to the Pentagon Inspector General’s Office asking it to “consider opening an investigation.”
Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy wrote to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday asking her to suspend the impeachment inquiry “until equitable rules and procedures” can be established.
