A group of aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were subpoenaed by House Democrats investigating the firing of Inspector General Steve Linick.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chairwoman of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, seek depositions from Undersecretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao; Marik String, acting State Department legal adviser; Michael Miller, State Department deputy assistant secretary for political-military affairs; and Toni Porter, senior adviser to the secretary of state.
President Trump fired Linick, who was investigating the secretary of state’s conduct, in May at the behest of Pompeo. Stephen Akard, who was confirmed as director of the Office of Foreign Missions last year, took over as acting inspector general.
Pompeo claims Linick was “undermining” the department and denies the firing was in retaliation.
Pompeo was subpoenaed over the weekend by House Democrats for documents he gave to a Senate Committee investigating Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden. “Secretary Pompeo has turned the State Department into an arm of the Trump campaign, and he’s not even trying to disguise it,” Engel, a New York Democrat, said in a statement.
