Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he didn’t know Inspector General Steve Linick was investigating him and that the watchdog was ousted because he was “undermining” the State Department.
Pompeo told the Washington Post on Monday that Linick’s termination didn’t have to do with politics but was because he was not performing his job correctly. Days before Pompeo’s explanation, Democratic lawmakers launched an investigation into the firing over concerns that it came in retaliation for Linick looking into the secretary’s use of a political aide in addition to an arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
“I went to the president and made clear to him that Inspector General Linick wasn’t performing a function in a way that we had tried to get him to, that was additive for the State Department, very consistent with what the statute says he’s supposed to be doing,” Pompeo said. “The kinds of activities he’s supposed to undertake to make us better, to improve us.”
“I actually know how that works,” he added. “I had an IG at the CIA, not the IG that I had chosen but an IG that was there before me. He did fantastic work. He made us better. Linick wasn’t that.”
Despite the remarks, Pompeo declined to cite specific concerns that he had about Linick. He also said he didn’t know he was being investigated by the watchdog when he made the recommendation to fire him, adding that he was aware of only one case related to a matter of national security.
“It is not possible that this decision, or my recommendation, rather, to the president, rather, was based on any effort to retaliate for any investigation that was going on or is currently going on,” Pompeo said. “Because I simply don’t know. I’m not briefed on it. I usually see these investigations in final draft form 24 hours, 48 hours before the IG is prepared to release them.
“So, it’s simply not possible for this to be an act of retaliation. End of story,” he added.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel of New York, a Democrat, told the Washington Examiner in a statement on Monday that Linick was investigating a May 2019 emergency declaration that allowed arms to be sold to the Saudis without congressional approval.
“His office was investigating, at my request, Trump’s phony declaration of an emergency so that he could send weapons to Saudi Arabia,” he said. “We don’t have the full picture yet, but it’s troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Mr. Linick pushed out before this work could be completed. The administration should comply with the probe I launched with Sen. [Bob] Menendez and turn over all the records requested from the department by Friday.”
Reports on Sunday indicated that Linick was also looking into accusations that Pompeo had made an aide run errands for him. He declined to answer questions about the errands on Monday and said he was “not going to answer the host of unsubstantiated allegations about any of that.”
Pompeo, who confirmed that he asked President Trump to fire Linick, reiterated that the president doesn’t need to provide a reason for ousting political appointees.
“The president obviously has the right to have an inspector general,” he said. “Just like every presidentially confirmed position, I can terminate them. They serve at his pleasure for any reason or no reason.”
State Department Undersecretary for Management Brian Bulatao told the Washington Post that the firing came after a “pattern of unauthorized disclosures” about early drafts of investigations began. Bulatao said that although it wasn’t clear that Linick was directly responsible for the leaks, they had the ability to harm investigations.
Both Engel and Menendez are leading the investigation into the matter. In a Saturday letter, they requested all records about Linick’s termination from the White House, the State Department, and the State Department Office of Inspector General by this Friday.
