Over 300 former officials from U.S. security and foreign
policy agencies, including a former director of the National Counterterrorism
Center and a one-time deputy secretary of state, on Friday, September 27th
endorsed the congressional impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump.
Their statement said the signatories had served in the
administrations of both parties. It also said the signatories did not want to
prejudge the conclusions Congress may reach in the inquiry.
“President Trump appears to have leveraged the authority and
resources of the highest office in the land to invite additional foreign
interference into our democratic processes. That would constitute an
unconscionable abuse of power.
It also would represent an effort to subordinate America’s
national interests and those of our closest allies and partners to the
President’s personal political interest” they wrote in the statement sent to
news organizations.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi this week announced she would
launch the inquiry after it emerged that Trump had asked the president of
Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a possible rival in the
2020 presidential election, while delaying aid to the country. The news
prompted a testy House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday with the
acting director of national intelligence.
The statement was signed by the former deputy assistant
secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia under former President
Barack Obama, Evelyn Farkas, as well as the former national intelligence
officer for Europe in Obama’s National Intelligence Office, Spencer P.
Boyer.
It was also signed by former officials of the National
Security Council, CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency, State Department, USAID,
Homeland Security Department, White House, Defense Department, House Armed
Services Committee, Navy, Justice Department and Marine Corps, among others.
