{"id":23576,"date":"2020-06-04T14:12:54","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T14:12:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/06\/04\/ousted-state-watchdog-confirms-investigations-into-pompeo\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T04:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T04:59:10","slug":"ousted-state-watchdog-confirms-investigations-into-pompeo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/congress\/2020\/06\/04\/ousted-state-watchdog-confirms-investigations-into-pompeo\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousted State watchdog confirms investigations into Pompeo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Ousted State Department Inspector General Steve Linick on Wednesday told members of three congressional committees that before he was abruptly fired, he was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo\u2019s use of government resources as well as the secretary\u2019s decision to approve a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democrats are investigating President Donald Trump\u2019s firing of Linick \u2014 one of several inspector generals he has recently ousted \u2014 and whether it was a retaliatory move. Pompeo has said he recommended that the inspector general be terminated, but insisted it wasn\u2019t retribution. Linick was an Obama administration appointee whose office had been critical of what it saw as political bias in the State Department\u2019s current management, but had also taken issue with Democratic appointees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a joint statement with other lawmakers that they still have many unanswered questions about the firing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMr. Linick confirmed that at the time he was removed as IG, his office was looking into two matters that directly touched on Secretary Pompeo\u2019s conduct and that senior State Department officials were aware of his investigations,\u201d the Democrats said. They said that Linick testified that he was \u201cshocked\u201d when he was fired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their statement said Linick confirmed there was an ongoing investigation into \u201callegations of misuse of government resources by Secretary Pompeo and his wife.\u201d Linick said he had informed officials close to Pompeo of the investigation, including by requesting documents from his executive secretary, the Democrats said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pompeo, though, told reporters after Linick was fired last month that he was unaware of any investigation into allegations that he may have mistreated staffers by instructing them to run personal errands for him and his wife \u2014 such as walking his dog and picking up dry cleaning and takeout food. Thus, Pompeo said, the move could not have been retaliatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pompeo did acknowledge then that he was aware of the probe into his decision last year to bypass congressional objections to approve a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia because he had answered written questions about it posed by Linick\u2019s office. But he maintained he did not know the scope or scale of the investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\t