David Hale expected to testify placating Trump was realpolitikState department was trying to lift freeze on military aidDavid Hale, the third most senior official at the state department, has begun his testimony at congressional impeachment hearings, where he will reportedly seek to explain the agency’s failure to defend the ambassador to Ukraine as an act of realpolitik.Hale, the under secretary of state for political affairs, is expected to argue that mounting a robust defence of Marie Yovanovitch in May, when she was removed at Donald Trump’s insistence, would have hurt the state department’s efforts to lift a White House freeze …read more
Source:: The Guardian
