MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski hammered Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for standing by while President Donald Trump corrupted the department he was confirmed by Congress to oversee.
The "Morning Joe" co-host said former Ukraine ambassador Bill Taylor had delivered damning testimony in the impeachment inquiry against Trump, and Brzezinski and her panelists agreed the secretary of state must answer for his actions in the scheme to pressure a foreign ally to investigate Joe Biden.
"The level of detail that is in here speaks to his note-taking and his collection of documents because he knew something wasn't right," said co-host Willie Geist, "and he wanted to have a paper trail to explain in this very moment (Tuesday), but it does speak to, does it not, the sloppiness or the arrogance, or some combination of this, administration of this shadow foreign policy that they thought they could roll over Bill Taylor and he just wouldn't say anything."
But the White House learned that Taylor would not go along for the ride, and instead delivered nearly 10 hours of gasp-inducing testimony.
"He was there watching, obviously the consummate professional, and as he realizes what's going on, he begins trying to say to people stop this," said Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
Taylor laid out evidence that he had tried to enlist other officials, including Pompeo and EU ambassador Gordon Sondland, to help him push back against the corrupt and likely criminal scheme -- but they refused.
"He writes directly to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, he says this policy you're conducting is folly," Ignatius said. "That's the word, he speaks out, quiet man as we've seen. He speaks out and says this is folly. One of the questions I have this morning is, where's Mike Pompeo?"
Brzezinski said the secretary of state owed Congress and the American people an explanation.
"This is not a hypothetical," she said. "The guy he appointed now has an incredible detailed story of how this quote 'drug deal' went down, so to speak. I mean, this is not a hypothetical. He has to answer questions at some point to the reality that happened on his watch, doesn't he?"
