Democrats are looking into President Donald Trump’s latest inspector general dismissal following reports that the president did so to protect Secretary Mike Pompeo. As the New York Times reports, Representative Eliot L. Engel, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey wrote a letter to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Saturday regarding the firing of Steve Linick, the State Department Inspector General who Trump moved to replace—with an ally of Vice President Mike Pence—late Friday.
“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,” the letter stated. “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.”
The two Democrats, citing Trump’s “unprecedented removal” of Linick to be only the latest “politically-motivated firing of inspectors general,” requested the White House—as well as the State Department and Linick, who were also sent letters—turn over all documents, communications, and other records relating to the subject. This includes records both of Linick’s “termination, removal, or replacement” as well as the investigation into Pompeo, requesting the Office of the Inspector General turn over “any and all investigations inquiries, audits … relating in any way to the Office of the Secretary that were open, pending, or remained incomplete in any way” at the time of Linick’s firing.
A White House official, per the Times, confirmed on Saturday that Trump had agreed to fire Linick on the recommendation of Pompeo, who has been criticized for “his use of the State Department’s resources for personal endeavors” such as trips abroad with his wife, Susan, and directing a political appointee to run personal errands. The ousting brings heightened attention to Pompeo, as Politico reports, at a time when the ex-congressman “is under renewed pressure from fellow Republicans to jump into the Senate race in Kansas” and also cites U.S. diplomats, who, for many months, have “quietly voiced concerns” about Susan Pompeo’s role at the State Department.
Politico notes Senator Chuck Grassley to be among the Republicans commenting on the situation, with the Iowa lawmaker offering “a mixed assessment” of the inspector general while still criticizing Trump’s circumventing of protocol.
“Although he failed to fully evaluate the State Department’s role in advancing the debunked Russian collusion investigation, those shortcomings do not waive the president’s responsibility to provide details to Congress when removing an IG,” Grassley said. “As I’ve said before, Congress requires written reasons justifying an IG’s removal. A general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress.”
Republican Senators Mitt Romney and Susan Collins took to Twitter to voice their response to Linick’s ousting, with Romney declaring “the firings of multiple inspectors general” to be “unprecedented” and “a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power.” “Doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose,” he said. Collins championed inspector generals as “vital partners in Congress’s effort to identify inefficient or ineffective government programs and to root out fraud and other wrongdoing,” noting herself to have coauthored The Inspector General Reform Act in 2008, legislation requiring the President of his intent to remove an inspector general, along with the reasons for the decision, 30 days prior to the removal. “The President has not provided the kind of justification for the removal of IG Linick required by this law,” Collins tweeted.
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