Dems launch probe after Trump fires another watchdog
Democrats have demanded the White House hand over records related to President Donald Trump’s latest firing of a federal watchdog, this time at the State Department, and they suggest Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was responsible in what “may be an illegal act of retaliation”.
“We unalterably oppose the politically motivated firing of inspectors general and the President’s gutting of these critical positions,” the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote in a letter to the administration.
Trump announced on Saturday that he was firing the inspector general, Steve Linick, an Obama administration appointee whose office was critical of what it saw as political bias in the State Department’s management. The ouster was another move by the Trump against executive branch watchdogs who have found fault with his administration.
New York Representative Eliot Engel and New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez sent letters to the White House, the State Department and the inspector general’s office asking that administration officials preserve all records related to Linick’s dismissal and provide them to the committees by this coming Saturday.
A senior department official said Trump removed Linick from his job on Saturday but gave no reason. In a letter to Congress, Trump said Linick, who had held the job since 2013, no longer had his confidence.
Engel suggested Linick was fired in part in retaliation for opening an unspecified investigation into Pompeo. Two congressional aides said it involved allegations that Pompeo may have improperly treated staff. Linick’s office has issued several reports critical of the department’s handling of personnel matters during the Trump administration, including accusing some political appointees of retaliating against career officials.
Engel and Menendez said it was “their understanding” that Pompeo recommended that Linick be fired because the watchdog was investigating “wrongdoing” by the Cabinet officer. They gave no specifics, but said such a move “may be an illegal act of retaliation”.
Linick, whose office also took issue with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server while she served as America’s top diplomat, played a minor role in the Ukraine impeachment investigation into Trump.
In October, Linick turned over documents to House investigators from State Department Counsellor T Ulrich Brechbuhl, a close Pompeo associate, which contained information from debunked conspiracy theories about Ukraine’s role in the 2016 election.
Linick had overseen inspector general reports that were highly critical of the department’s management policies during the Trump administration.
His office had criticised several Trump appointees for their treatment of career staff for apparently being insufficiently supportive of Trump and his policies.
Trump has been taking aim lately at inspectors general.
In April, Trump fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, for his role in the whistleblower complaint that led to his impeachment.
Then Trump removed Glenn Fine as acting inspector general at the Defence Department.
The move stripped him of his post as chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, which is among those overseeing the vast economic relief law pass in response to the coronavirus.
During a White House briefing on Covid-19, Trump questioned the independence of an inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services over a report that said there was a shortage of supplies and testing at hospitals.
Trump has since moved to replace the HHS official, Christi Grimm.