The State Department inspector general fired by President Trump was reportedly looking into whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made his staffer run a variety of personal errands for him.
Before he was ousted on Friday, Inspector General Steve Linick was investigating claims that Pompeo had made an aide walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning, and make dinner reservations for him and his wife, among other errands, two congressional officials assigned to different committees told NBC News on Sunday.
The staffer asked to complete the tasks is a political appointee who was serving as a staff assistant, the officials said. Democratic aides further told the New York Times that Linick had begun an inquiry into Pompeo’s possible misuse of a political appointee to perform personal errands. It is unclear whether Linick had other investigations open into Pompeo.
CNN reported in July that congressional Democrats were investigating a similar but different claim that the secretary of state had made his diplomatic security agents perform personal errands such as walking his dog and picking up Chinese food.
House lawmakers first obtained information on Linick’s investigation late last week, and Democrats in both chambers are now probing his “unprecedented” firing amid concerns that the president’s decision may have been an “act of retaliation” for the investigation into Pompeo. White House officials have also indicated that Pompeo “recommended” the watchdog’s removal and that Trump agreed.
A top Republican senator also expressed concern over the ousting. Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley called the president’s stated reason for firing Linick, a loss of confidence in the inspector general, not satisfactory and demanded a deeper explanation on Saturday.
Linick was the fourth inspector general Trump has removed in recent months in addition to intelligence community watchdog Michael Atkinson, acting Pentagon watchdog Glenn Fine, and Health and Human Services Inspector General Christi Grimm. CNN’s Jake Tapper noted the pattern on Sunday, saying the president is creating “a world where watchdogs are replaced by lap dogs.”
