The State Department has canceled briefings with congressional oversight staff on counterterrorism issues and the closure of a U.S. diplomatic outpost in China amid deteriorating relations between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to congressional aides and officials familiar with the matter.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee had worked with the State Department to schedule briefings this week with diplomats on the closure of the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, China, as tensions between Washington and Beijing escalate. Diplomats were also set to brief Congressional staff the recent takeover of a key port city in Mozambique near huge deposits of natural gas by a militant group linked to the Islamic State, as well as counterterrorism efforts in the Sahel region of West Africa.
