The outrage over the firing of Steve Linick, the State Department inspector general, was in a word: predictable. As the latest in Donald Trump’s so-called purge of inspectors general across the administration, Democrats’ fiery condemnations and the tempered Republican criticisms from the usual suspects on the right—Senators Mitt Romney, Susan Collins, and Chuck Grassley, a longtime oversight advocate—felt choreographed. The steady drip of revelations potentially tying Linick’s dismissal to Mike Pompeo’s leadership of the State Department, coupled with questionable cameos by his wife, Susan, however, have been less expected—if not entirely surprising. But while the inspector general’s ouster may have sparked a deluge of questions about whether it was retaliatory in nature, Pompeo’s problems are really rooted in his own political ambitions. “It’s just so extreme,” a former State Department official told me. “He’s using the institution to clearly advance his own personal interests.” In Donald Trump’s world, this is a line you’re not supposed to cross. The ultimate user, he doesn’t like to be used.
After initially backing Senator Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican primary, Pompeo hitched his star to Trump, leveraging his existing relationship with Mike Pence into an appointment as director of the CIA. His past criticisms of Trump were swept under the rug, and Pompeo cemented himself as the president’s most obsequious cabinet official. And when Trump unceremoniously fired Rex Tillerson by tweet, Pompeo assumed the helm of the State Department. The role of secretary of state is much more visible than that of the spy chief, and Pompeo has taken advantage. The former Kansas congressman has repeatedly used his post to boost his visibility within the Republican Party, making himself into a top GOP contender for 2024. And while Trump typically bristles at members of administration stealing the spotlight, Pompeo has proven adept at managing his relationship with Trump. As one former U.S. ambassador memorably characterized it to The New Yorker’s Susan Glasser, “He’s like a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass.” Trump, too, has publicly acknowledged Pompeo’s yes-man status. “I argue with everyone,” Trump once told a reporter. “Except Pompeo.”
But as Trump struggles to contain the COVID-19 crisis and shift the script as the November election looms, there is a question of the patience he will afford Pompeo, loyalty be damned. Since Linick’s firing, the bad headlines for Pompeo have mounted. When President Trump informed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Linick’s firing in a letter late Friday night, he offered little explanation. Merely, that he no longer had “confidence” in the watchdog. But details quickly trickled out. Trump, the White House said, fired Linick on Pompeo’s recommendation. Then it was reported that Linick had been investigating Pompeo for the alleged misuse of a political appointee to perform personal tasks for him and his wife. According to a congressional aide, “several calls were made to the I.G. hotline” about Pompeo’s use of staff for personal errands. And then, it was revealed that Linick had also been probing Pompeo’s approval of an $8 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, by way of an “emergency declaration.” Then on Tuesday, NBC News published an exhaustive report on a series of private “Madison Dinners” hosted by the Pompeos that appear to be more about furthering the secretary of state’s political career than American foreign policy.
As the clouds began to form over Foggy Bottom, Trump swiftly and tellingly passed the buck. “I don’t know the guy at all, I never even heard of him, but I was asked to by the State Department, by Mike,” Trump said, at a White House briefing Tuesday, maintaining that he had the utmost authority to dismiss any executive branch official. “I don’t know what’s going on other than that but you’d have to ask Mike Pompeo. But they did ask me to do it and I did it.”