Democrats announced that they are beginning an investigation into President Trump’s firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel of New York and Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey made the announcement on Saturday, a day after Linick’s removal. The lawmakers requested all records about Linick’s firing from the White House, the State Department, and the State Department Office of Inspector General by next Friday.
“President Trump’s unprecedented removal of Inspector General Linick is only his latest sacking of an inspector general, our government’s key independent watchdogs, from a federal agency,” they said in a press release. “We unalterably oppose the politically motivated firing of inspectors general and the president’s gutting of these critical positions.”
Engel has said that he learned the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Reports indicate that Secretary Pompeo personally made the recommendation to fire Mr. Linick, and it is our understanding that he did so because the inspector general had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Secretary Pompeo himself,” Engel and Menendez said. “Such an action, transparently designed to protect Secretary Pompeo from personal accountability, would undermine the foundation of our democratic institutions and may be an illegal act of retaliation.”
Regarding Linick’s removal, a White House official told the Washington Examiner on Saturday that “Secretary Pompeo recommenced the move, and President Trump agreed.”
Trump has raised the ire of Democrats after he removed other inspectors general following his impeachment trial. The president removed the Intelligence Community watchdog, Michael Atkinson, who had handled the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment. He also got rid of Glenn Fine, the acting inspector general of the Defense Department. Fine had been charged with overseeing the implementation of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
