Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says it’s sometimes “appropriate” for Congress to be “conspiratorial” — including in the case of demands to see Russian meddling-related documents classified under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
In an interview aired Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Pompeo declined to say which allies persuaded President Donald Trump against declassifying some FISA documents, but declared: “We will always make sure that we protect our sources, our methods, information that comes in from partners that share with us.”
But when asked if Congress ought to quell the “conspiratorial” tone of its demands for FISA documents that allegedly show a political bias, Pompeo defended lawmakers’ concerns.
“Look, sometimes being conspiratorial’s appropriate too,” he said. “Sometimes asking hard questions — it's their job, their oversight role. So I, I don't begrudge them that in any way.”
Pompeo also pushed back on the idea the Secretary of State was playing bad cop to Trump’s good cop toward Russia, calling the premise “just wrong.”
“I think we're all trying to be cops that are protecting America and I think we've actually achieved that,” he said. “I do believe America's fundamentally safer today than it was when President Trump took office for a host of reasons.”
Pompeo asserted there’s still work to do on an accord with North Korea to denuclearize, but declined to condemn the rogue nation for not holding up its part of the bargain.
“There remains a great deal of work to do,” he said. “And we have the patience and determination and the president's mission statement to us at the State Department to make that happen.”
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