Trump's Ukraine envoy pick says he'll flag election meddling
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to Ukraine says he will not meet Americans with overtly partisan political agendas if he is confirmed to the post and will report any attempt to interfere in November’s election.
Retired Army Gen. Keith Dayton told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that he would look into any requests for meetings and would not accept any if he believed they were intended to influence the upcoming presidential contest or other domestic political issues. He would not, however, flatly commit to refusing a meeting with Trump backer and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“If they are there for very partisan purposes, of course not,” Dayton said in response to questions from Democratic Sens. Bob Menendez of New Jersey and Chris Murphy of Connecticut.
Giuliani was at the forefront of a campaign to remove Marie Yovanovitch as the American envoy. That effort played a key role in Trump’s impeachment for attempting to withhold vital military assistance to Ukraine's government in exchange for Ukraine investigating former Vice President Joe Biden, a Trump political rival.
Republicans are currently looking into ties that Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and his son Hunter had with Ukraine, including the energy company Burisma, and some have suggested it could become an issue in the presidential campaign. Hunter Biden was on the board of the gas company.
Dayton said he would take seriously any allegations of attempted election interference. “If I have any indication that there is any kind of election interference going on using Ukraine as a lever to do that, I would of course report that,” he said.
Dayton currently heads the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Germany. He would be the...