Tag Archives: State Department

Buzzfeed News reports: State Department investigators this week interviewed hundreds of diplomats and employees at the US embassy in Ukraine as part of an investigation into the alleged surveillance of former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch by associates of Rudy Giuliani, two US officials with knowledge of the investigation told BuzzFeed News. One diplomatic source described the investigation as “cynical” and a …

The Guardian reports: Boris Johnson “reiterated the need” for the suspect charged with causing the death of Harry Dunn to return to the UK during a phone call with Donald Trump, a Downing Street spokeswoman said. Dunn, 19, died after a crash outside a US military base in Croughton, Northamptonshire, on 27 August 2019. Anne Sacoolas, 42, was charged with …

CNBC reports: The State Department on Thursday unveiled new rules that could make it more difficult for pregnant foreign nationals to travel to the United States using tourist visas, citing security concerns. The rules, which will become effective on Friday, are an attempt to crack down on “birth tourism,” or the practice of giving birth in the United States in …

CNN reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday publicly committed to look into the possible surveillance of former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch — more than 48 hours after the evidence of potential monitoring emerged and more than 24 hours after Ukraine announced its own investigation into the matter. “We will do everything we need to do to …

Reuters reports: The United States on Friday rejected a formal request from Britain for the extradition of a U.S. diplomat’s wife who left the country last year after a road collision that killed 19-year-old Briton Harry Dunn. British prosecutors are seeking the extradition of Anne Sacoolas over the crash last August in which Dunn was killed while riding his motorbike. …

ABC News reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” that the world is a safer place as a result of Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani’s death. “This was a bad guy, we took him off the playing field. And that’s important because this was a fella who was the glue, who was conducting active plotting against …

ABC News reports: The U.S. has warned American citizens in Saudi Arabia “of the heightened risk of missile and drone attacks” amid soaring tensions with Iran. A security alert message sent Sunday by the U.S. mission there said that in the past “regional actors hostile to Saudi Arabia have conducted missile and drone attacks against both civilian and military targets …

Via press release from the State Department: Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, and armed conflict. U.S. citizens in Iraq are at high risk for violence and kidnapping. Numerous terrorist and insurgent groups are active in Iraq and regularly attack both Iraqi security forces and civilians. Anti-U.S. sectarian militias may also threaten U.S. citizens and Western companies …

The Associated Press reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Ukraine this week, making his first trip to the country at the heart of President Donald Trump’s impeachment. As the Senate weighs options for a trial, Pompeo will depart Thursday on a five-nation tour of Europe and Central Asia. Ukraine will be the first stop on the trip, the …

The Washington Post reports: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says he isn’t running for Senate next year. Those close to him say he hasn’t made a final decision yet. But that hasn’t prevented a barely concealed competition from breaking out within the administration over who might replace him as the nation’s top diplomat. President Trump has fueled the fire by …

The Guardian reports: The wife of a US intelligence officer has been charged with causing the death by dangerous driving of the 19-year-old motorcyclist Harry Dunn, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced. Anne Sacoolas was flown out of the UK by the US embassy days after the fatal collision in late August, with the US claiming she was covered by …

The Daily Beast reports: The Trump administration is quietly fighting a new package of sanctions on Russia, The Daily Beast has learned. A Trump State Department official sent a 22-page letter to a top Senate chairman on Tuesday making a wide-ranging case against a new sanctions bill. Sen. Lindsey Graham—usually a staunch ally of the White House—introduced the legislation earlier …

ABC News reports: The veteran U.S. diplomat who was a key witness in impeachment hearings is departing his post in Ukraine, according to two State Department sources. Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Kyiv who was recruited by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to fill in after President Donald Trump abruptly recalled Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, will depart in early …

The BBC reports: The US ambassador to Zambia has said he has been threatened over his comments on the sentencing of a gay couple, deepening a diplomatic row. Daniel Foote said he was “horrified” by the jailing of Japhet Chataba and Steven Samba. A judge quashed an appeal against their conviction last week, sentencing them both to 15 years in …

Politico reports: Mina Chang, a high-ranking State Department staffer who vaulted into the public spotlight after NBC reported she had inflated her resume, has resigned from her position. NBC reported last week that Chang had misleadingly claimed in her official bio that she was an “alumna” of Harvard Business School when in fact she only attended a seven-week course there. …

As of this writing, this woman still has her job. A senior Trump administration official has embellished her résumé with misleading claims about her professional background — even creating a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it — raising questions about her qualifications to hold a top position at the State Department. An investigation found that Mina Chang, …

Bloomberg reports: President Donald Trump says he lifted his freeze on aid to Ukraine on Sept. 11, but the State Department had quietly authorized releasing $141 million of the money several days earlier, according to five people familiar with the matter. The State Department decision, which hasn’t been reported previously, stemmed from a legal finding made earlier in the year, …

The Associated Press reports: The State Department’s third-ranking official is expected to tell Congress that political considerations were behind the agency’s refusal to deliver a robust defense of the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. People familiar with the matter say the highest-ranking career diplomat in the foreign service, David Hale, plans to tell congressional impeachment investigators on Wednesday that Secretary …

The Daily Beast reports: Facing a concerted campaign from Rudy Giuliani and his allies to oust her, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich struggled in vain to get cover from U.S. diplomats, including her boss: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. At one point, according to a transcript of her Oct. 11 deposition in front of congressional impeachment investigators, she …

NBC News reports: The furious family of a British teenager killed in a wrong-way crash by a car driven by the wife of an American diplomat announced that they will be suing both the White House and the motorist for alleged “lawless misconduct” and “attempting to cover it up.” The threat to take legal action came two months after 19-year-old …