Mike Pompeo has accused Democrats of bullying and intimidating his staff as part of an impeachment probe into Donald Trump.
The Secretary of State, one of the president’s closest allies, dismissed summons from Democratic committee chairmen in the House of Representatives for five former state department officials to testify on the president's attempts to push Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden.
Mr Pompeo said in that requests for five officials to appear before committees were "not feasible" as he lashed out at attempts to "bully" members of the Department of State.
He wrote on Twitter: “I’m concerned with aspects of the Committee’s request that can be understood only as an attempt to intimidate, bully, and treat improperly the distinguished professionals of the Department of State.”
The five have been scheduled to give testimony this week and next as the House looks into the US leaders request to Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky during a July phone call to investigate a domestic political rival, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The officials "may not attend any interview or deposition" without executive branch counsel present to control disclosure of confidential information and questioned, Pompeo wrote in a letter to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel.
Mr Engel and two other Democratic committee chairmen issued a statement accusing Pompeo of "stonewalling" the impeachment inquiry, and called him a "fact witness" in the investigation based on media reports that he had listened in on the call.
"He should immediately cease intimidating department witnesses in order to protect himself and the president," Mr Engel and Representatives Adam Schiff and Elijah Cummings said.
Democrats last week launched the impeachment effort in light of a whistleblower complaint against the Republican president by a person within the US intelligence community who accused Mr Trump of soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 US election for his personal political benefit.
Mr Trump is running for re-election next year.
The impeachment inquiry could lead to approval of articles of impeachment - or formal charges - against the president in the House.
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This would lead to a trial in the Senate on whether to remove him from office but the president's fellow Republicans control that chamber and have shown little appetite for removing him.
Mr Pompeo, who is in Italy for a three-day trip, objected to Mr Engel's request for the officials to be made available for depositions. T
he officials include former US Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and former US special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker.
