US House Chairs Announce Probe Into Pompeo's Convention Speech From Jerusalem - Statement

�WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2020) A federal office is investigating whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's speech to the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem in August was a breach of the Hatch Act, Congress members Eliot Engel and Nita Lowey said in a statement on Monday.

"Our offices have confirmed that the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) has launched a probe into potential Hatch Act violations tied to Secretary Pompeo's speech to the Republican National Convention," the two Democrats who chair the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Appropriations said.

The probe follows reports that the OSC was also investigating Pompeo's stated commitment to rush out more of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's emails by Election Day, the statement noted.

"The Department [of State] has repeatedly missed Congressional overseers' deadlines for producing documents on his recent domestic speeches that will help us understand whether they were improper political activities. So we're grateful to OSC - whom Mr. Pompeo can't fire as he did the Inspector General - for looking into this matter," Engel and Lowey said.

The State Department had a legal obligation under the Federal Records Act to create and retain documentation of its actions, including those by the secretary and Congress had every right to review those official records, the statement said.

Engel is leaving Congress at the end of this term after losing his party' Primary election in his New York district.