“Anytime there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right, but a duty to make sure we chase that down,” he said, speaking to reporters at the State Department. “Whomever it is—by the way, it’s not just…state actors, there are non-state actors, too, who are out there acting in ways that are deeply inconsistent with what we’re trying to do to protect our elections—America should leave no stone unturned.”

President Donald Trump and Republicans have pushed the debunked narrative that Ukraine was responsible for the hack of Democratic National Committee emails in 2016 while the impeachment inquiry has centered on Trump’s decision to withhold foreign military aid to Ukraine in an effort to pressure the country to conduct investigations that would benefit him politically.

U.S. intelligence community agencies concluded in 2017 that Russia was responsible for 2016 election interference in America’s election, and former special counsel Robert Mueller and experts have warned their efforts are ongoing.

Pompeo, who highlighted his former position as CIA director in the early stages of Trump’s presidency, said there “were many countries that were actively engaged and trying to undermine American democracy.”

“So, whatever nation it is that we have information that so much as suggests that there might have been interference, or an effort to interfere in our elections, we have an obligation to make sure that the American people get to go to the ballot box, cast their ballots in a way that is unimpacted by these malevolent actors trying to undermine our Western Democratic values,” he said.

Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA) suggested on CNN following Pompeo’s remarks that the secretary of state “was being very careful not to upset his boss… I think Mike was trying not to answer the question in the most artful way he could.”

Pompeo also sidestepped a question about whether he was involved in the campaign led by Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, to oust former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. The career diplomat, who recently testified at the impeachment hearings, was recalled from her foreign post in May, capping off a smear campaign Giuliani is alleged to have led, according to several current and former administration officials who’ve testified in the impeachment hearings.

A trove of documents released last week by the State Department showed that Pompeo and Giuliani spoke by phone at least twice in the days leading up to Yovanovitch’s removal as ambassador, suggesting Pompeo may have misled Congress on the circumstances surrounding her departure.

“I don’t have much to say with respect to the Ukraine investigation other than this: We’re continuing to comply with all the legal requirements—you saw we released documents, I guess it was last week now. We’ll continue to do that as required by law and as appropriate, so that the appropriate oversight can be conducted,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo has not complied with a House subpoena to testify to impeachment investigators for his knowledge involving the Ukraine scandal. In a tweet Tuesday morning, Trump wrote he’d “actually like” administration officials like Pompeo to testify.

“When the time is right, all good things happen,” Pompeo said.

“With respect to the larger set of issues, we had a very clear policy with respect to Ukraine, and we executed it successfully,” he added.

Pompeo also said there “are still many challenges” that remain with Ukraine, such as Russians in the disputed Donbass region of the country. The administration is “working to make sure that we move through the challenges” with corruption that Ukraine has faced in the past, the secretary said.