- The Washington Times - Wednesday, November 6, 2019

David Hale, the first administration official to testify this week in the House impeachment inquiry, is a career member of the Foreign Service who has held No. 3 post at the State Department since August 2018.

He has served as an ambassador to Pakistan, Lebanon and Jordan, and has worked in numerous U.S. missions around the Middle East and at the United Nations.

In his long career at State, he also has served as executive assistant to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the Clinton administration.

Mr. Hale’s relevance to the impeachment inquiry came to light last month when State Department official Philip Reeker testified to lawmakers that another official had expressed concerns to him and Mr. Hale about Rudolph W. Giuliani’s role with Ukraine. Mr. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, allegedly was undermining U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and digging for dirt about 2020 Democratic presidential front-runner Joseph R. Biden.

Mr. Hale is expected to tell lawmakers that the State Department was reluctant to defend Ms. Yovanovitch over concerns it would imperil U.S. military aid for the country.

• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.

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