Washington (CNN) Two top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have asked the State Department to turn over records related to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's recent domestic speeches ahead of the presidential election. The top US diplomat has delivered a number of speeches in the past several weeks aimed at domestic audiences -- one at a megachurch in Texas, one to state lawmakers in Wisconsin and, most recently, a virtual one to a conservative Christian organization in Florida. "It is concerning that the Secretary is suddenly crisscrossing the country at taxpayers' expense to speak with state legislators and private groups and that these events appear to be increasing in frequency as the November 3rd election approaches," said Reps. Eliot Engel and Joaquin Castro. "The nexus of speeches about the Secretary's personal religious beliefs, to a swing-state legislature accompanied by a former senior Republican party official, and at a paid-access event for an anti-abortion advocacy group, to the Secretary's official duties as America's lead diplomat is unclear and possibly illegal." They asked that the records be provided to the House Foreign Affairs Committee by October 12.

Source: CNN October 05, 2020 20:03 UTC