A top Republican defended President Trump’s firing of the State Department inspector general, who Democrats said was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Trump removed the watchdog, Steve Linick, on Friday at the request of Pompeo, according to the White House. The move angered House Democrats, prompting them to launch an investigation into the firing.
“I’m not crying big crocodile tears over this termination. Let’s put it that way,” Sen. Ron Johnson, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday.
Johnson said the Trump administration explained the reasoning behind the firing, but he declined to elaborate.
“In the end, they serve at the pleasure of the president,” he said of the independent government watchdogs, adding that Trump has “the authority to hire and terminate.”
“I don’t think anything that this administration could say is going to satisfy some people. There will still be people huffing and puffing and stomping their feet,” he continued. “But, again, it is the president’s decision whether or not to hire or terminate an inspector general.”
Johnson also indicated the inspector general had stonewalled a Senate investigation.
Not all Republicans backed Trump’s decision. Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a critic of the president, called it “a threat to accountable democracy.” Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Finance Committee with a long-standing reputation for defending inspectors general, demanded Trump explain the firing.
“A general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress,” he said.
