The United States government should investigate any attempts of interference with the country’s election system, appearing to back the conspiratorial claims of US president Donald Trump who believes that the Ukrainian government messed with the 2016 US presidential election in favour his rival, Hillary Clinton, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Speaking at a press conference of the US State Department, Mr Pompeo stressed that they not only have a duty but the right to investigate such claims “any time there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections.”
He believes that the US government has an obligation to consider probes “whatever nation it is that we have information that so much as suggests that there might have been interference or an effort to interfere in our elections.”
The claims promoted by the US president that Ukraine meddled with the US election system have been largely considered as Russian-promoted by the US intelligence community.
The alleged interference is also at the centre of an ongoing US congressional impeachment inquiry against Mr Trump launched by US Democrats. They say that the US president tied 400 million US dollars of foreign and military assistance to the Ukrainian government’s investigation of debunked claims on the election meddling and the Ukrainian activities of former US vice president Joe Biden, Mr Trump’s top political rival in the upcoming presidential election.
Speaking in her impeachment testimony, Fiona Hill, the former Russia adviser of US vice president Mike Pence, called Mr Trump’s claims on Ukrainian election interference “a fictional narrative” that is part of Russia’s propaganda.
Add Comment