During an interview with Fox News' Martha MacCallum, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday defended President Donald Trump for how he conducted himself on the call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
MacCallum asked Pompeo about the call after Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a State Department official, testified before Congress on Tuesday. In his testimony, Vindman claimed quid pro quo took place. The Secretary of State said he doesn't know "what any of the witnesses have actually said."
"What I know is I was on the call, I listened to the call. I thought the way the president handled it was appropriate," Pomepo explained. "We were incredibly focused on a couple simple things with respect to Ukraine strategy. We've executed on that."
The Trump administration was focused on helping the “Ukrainian people and Ukrainian leadership fight back corruption." One of the things the Trump administration did, that President Obama didn't, was provide “defensive weapon systems" to Ukraine.
"I couldn’t tell you why or answer if it is because of Hunter Biden that Barack Obama and Vice President Biden didn’t give defensive weapons to Ukraine. They will have to answer for that," he said.
MacCallum asked about whether or not quid pro quo took place.
“You were on the call, was there anything that was on the call that pointed to a quid quo pro?” she asked.
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"The call was consistent with what I long said conversation with President Trump on our policy for an awfully long time. I've been part of this administration from the beginning, first as the CIA Director and now as Secretary of State," he replied. "Our policy has been very clear all along with respect to Ukraine."
“Did you hear anything on that call that is not in the transcript?” MacCallum asked, referencing the rumor that the Bidens' names were brought up.
"The conversation was consistent with what I had I heard the president clearly on the call talking about making sure corruption, whether corruption took place in the 2016 election, whether corruption continuing to take place, the moneys being provided were used appropriately, consistent with what I understood President Trump and our administration to be doing all along," Pompeo said.
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