Without offering any explanation, State Department officials abruptly canceled two classified briefings Wednesday in the House and Senate that are required by law to occur on a monthly basis. The briefings with national security-focused committees in both chambers had been expanded to include information about embassy security following the U.S. strike on Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and Donald Trump's subsequent claims that embassies were at risk of attack.
The abrupt cancellations also come on the heels of new evidence released Tuesday revealing that former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch may have been in physical danger as Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and his goons conspired to remove her from her post.
Neither the State Department nor Secretary of State Mike Pompeo immediately responded to requests for comment.
“Staff are furious,” a House aide told Politico. “This briefing is required by law every month, and today's was the most important we've had scheduled in a long time. The State Department has given us no explanation whatsoever.”
Congressional aides had intended to delve into the administration's scattershot explanation for the Soleimani assassination and also inquire about current threat levels for embassy staff.
Pompeo also dodged a public hearing earlier this week requested by House lawmakers and instead flew to California to attend other events. Pompeo can barely get through a media interview without stuttering through some topic on which he is clearly lying. So what does he have to hide? And how long can the State Department stonewall congressional inquiries?
This is just one more prong in the Trump administration's blanket obstruction of congressional oversight.