Saudi arms sales: Pompeo cleared

Washington, Aug. 11: An internal probe has cleared US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of wrongdoing in a disputed arms sale to Saudi Arabia, a senior State Department official said Monday, although the report on the investigation has not yet been released.

Pompeo was accused of abuse of power after he used an obscure emergency procedure to ram through $8.1 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies in May of last year, despite opposition from the US Congress. The Inspector General’s report on the investigation has concluded that the State Department had “acted in complete accordance with the law and found no wrongdoing in the administration exercise of the emergency authorities that are available under the arms export control act,” the senior official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official did not say when the report would be published, but the State Department released excerpts in a statement.

Congress had sought to block the arms sale in protest against the October 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which was attributed by US intelligence services to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Then-inspector general Steve Linick had been investigating Pompeo’s 2019 declaration of an emergency that permitted the Trump administration to sell arms and bypass Congress, where lawmakers have voiced horror at civilian casualties in the Saudi-led offensive in Yemen.