On Thursday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," anchor Erin Burnett and historian Tim Naftali discussed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's defensiveness over the Ukraine scandal during his tour of his home state of Kansas.
"Not only did Pompeo obviously show his frustration there, but he was asked about Rudy Giuliani’s work in Ukraine. So he’s in his home state and he gave a bunch of interviews ... with KMUW Radio in Kansas. He was asked, quote, do you support the work Rudy Giuliani was doing in Ukraine? This is a simple question, right? Pompeo starts off as Secretary of State, and we have a singular mission with respect for Ukraine and he goes on about that and he’s asked again. So was Mr. Giuliani’s efforts aligned with the State Department? Again, simple answer. That’s not what we’ve got. Pompeo said we’ve been working tirelessly and this is refusing to talk about Giuliani."
"The Giuliani unofficial channel is a real problem for Secretary Pompeo, and here’s the problem," said Naftali, who previously ran the Nixon Presidential Library. "He’s either corrupt — that is, Secretary Pompeo — or he’s a bad manager. And Secretary Pompeo did superbly at West Point. He was an army officer. He oversaw supply management issues. So he cares about process. The Giuliani channel was something either he didn’t know about, in which case he’s not running U.S. foreign policy, or he knew about it, and he bears the same responsibility as Giuliani."
"It’s a problem for him," said Naftali. "Either way he’s in trouble, either as a bad manager, or as a fellow corrupt player."
Watch below:
