State Dept inspector general expected to give 'urgent' Ukraine briefing on Hill

[Mrs. Overall]

Source: ABC

The State Department’s inspector general is expected to brief staffers from several House and Senate committees on Wednesday afternoon about documents obtained from the department’s Office of the Legal Adviser concerning documents related to the State Department and Ukraine, sources familiar with the planned briefing told ABC News.

Details of the briefing, expected to be conducted by Steve Linick, the inspector general at State, remain unknown. Linick is expected to meet with congressional staff in a secure location on Capitol Hill.

The unusual nature and timing of the briefing – during a congressional recess – suggest it may be connected to a recent intelligence community whistleblower allegation which describes, in part, the State Department’s role in coordinating interactions between Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal attorney, and Ukrainian officials.

The State Department has faced criticism in recent weeks for connecting Giuliani to multiple Ukrainian officials about re-opening an investigation into for Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter. The State Dept inspector general's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment nor did the committees expected to be part of the briefing.

This is a developing news story. Please check back for updates.

Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/state-dept-inspector-general-expected-urgent-ukraine-briefing/story?id=65991911

[FarPoint]

1. So, is this another tRump/Barr faux scandal tRump media style ?

Barr and tRump probable came up with this .....media is like my cat that thinks every nibble-kibble is a treat.

[karynnj]

9. The State Department IG was appointed by Obama in 2013

[FarPoint]

15. Well it came out....

It was a big package of propaganda...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/dems-say-state-watchdog-gave-us-packet-of-propaganda/ar-AAIcu1n?li=BBnb7Kz&fbclid=IwAR3ExV5G4SaR2POHRWfQfLbUWYDa9G-Vgbw32p-xcE8alhUEsf-rZCSj

[ancianita]

2. I wonder why the staffers and not the Gang of Four.

[Mrs. Overall]

3. Isn't Pompeo out of the country right now? How much is he involved in this briefing?

[DrToast]

4. The IG office is quasi independent

He does not need Pompeo’s permission to speak to Congress.

Word in the Twittersphere is that they have documents from Pompeo asking if they can punish State employees that cooperate with Congress. No idea if that’s true, but it seems plausible.

[Mrs. Overall]

5. Great info. Thanks for clarifying about the IG office.

[Corgigal]

6. Is this the american office,

or the corrupt Presidents office?

So hard to keep up.

[Gothmog]

7. This meeting sounds like a big deal

Link to tweet

[Cadfael]

8. From Twitter

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

[ffr]

10. A secure location. Sounds serious.

Hope it's devastating to this cabal.

[ffr]

11. It's important to note about the DoS IG

The inspector general is the department's internal investigator and watchdog, and the office generally operates independently of the department's political leadership. - ABC News


Which I read to mean, they have something of importance that is not propaganda. Wait n see.

[GulfCoast66]

12. Sounds like someone had no fucks left to give and is going rogue

Both Barr and Pompeo are out of the country. I doubt the timing is accidental.

Prediction: they cancel all plans and catch a red-eye back home tonight.

Tomorrow is going to be epic.

Let’s see if Barr tries to use the FBI to prevent him from appearing.

[True Dough]

13. I saw someone speculate

that Barr and Pompeo are in Rome with Sebastian Gorka because Gorka will facilitate their defection to Russia tomorrow. Far-fetched, I know, but I smiled at the thought.

[GulfCoast66]

14. While fun to speculate. I'll leave the conspiracy stuff to republicans.

I would guess they are on a red eye flight home tonight.

[DeminPennswoods]

16. Maddow talked about this last night

It turns out it was a packet of rw conspiracy theories related to the 2016 election interference and at least some of it was designed to smear Amb Yovanovitch. The packet was sent over to the State Dept back in April/May timeframe, interestingly shortly before the Amb was either recalled early or fired from her post.

The State Dept general counsel gave the packet to the State Dept IG. Apparently the IG didn't take it too seriously because of all the nutty stuff, but when the story about Trump's call to Ukraine came out, it caused the IG to re-read it with a different view of its import. That's when he decided to inform Congress.

Later last evening, Giuliani confessed to having been the person who sent the packet to Pompeo, as Rep Jamie Raskin said he suspected.

This isn't the game-chaning news that was speculated about, but, it doesn't seem to be nothing either.

[DeminPennswoods]

17. More from Josh Marshall at TPM

Link: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/the-rudy-dossier

Needless to say, it’s quite clear that Pompeo is deeply implicated in these abuses of power. Meanwhile Rudy Giuliani is happy to provide more evidence of Pompeo’s involvement. Once Pompeo received them, they were circulated within the State Department. It doesn’t say specifically that Pompeo circulated them. But that seems consistent with all the other information we’ve learned.

It seems pretty clear why Inspector General Linick thought this was an urgent matter.