Quick post/reminder that trump is still soliciting foreign re-election assistance because State is mum on the actual purpose of the visit:
Ukrainian officials are preparing for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit next week, according to two sources informed by Kyiv about the trip, which is now scheduled for Jan. 30-31.
Pompeo canceled a previously planned trip to Ukraine and four other nations slated for early January amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran that led to protests and heightened security in the region.
The State Department declined to comment on Pompeo’s upcoming Ukraine visit.
That doesn’t prevent analysis of the potential motives for such a visit:
Ivan Yakovina, a foreign policy columnist for Ukraine's Novoye Vremya newsmagazine, said one reason for Pompeo’s trip could be to make sure that “no bad surprises would come from Kyiv during the Trump Senate trial.”
“I mean no word-to-word transcripts of the relevant phone calls or other documents will leak,” he said. “If I were him I would assure the Ukrainians that they will be rewarded if nothing unexpected happens during the trial. And punished if comrade Trump’s enemies will get some sort of help or comfort from Kyiv.”
The trip could also shine a critical light on Pompeo’s decision to recall former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, and the slow response to the possible surveillance of her by allies of President Trump. It could also expose tensions between Pompeo and career US foreign service officers stationed in Kyiv, who’ve expressed their frustration with the secretary of state privately to BuzzFeed News in recent weeks.
Expect the State Department’s excuse for the visit to be its investigation into alleged surveillance of Marie Yovanovitch. Because Pompeo was *so concerned* for her safety and all:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo finally promised an investigation into alleged surveillance of former Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch Friday, saying that it’s his “obligation” to “investigate” and “evaluate,” though he doubts that she was truly being tracked.
[…] The [Friday radio] interview marks only the second time Pompeo has spoken about the alleged tracking of Yovanovitch and the first time he has registered any objection to it.
When anyone in this “administration” investigates anything abroad, it’s practically guaranteed to be a cover-up for one of its own domestic investigations crimes and improprieties.