A potentially illegal act of reprisal? US President Donald Trump has fired a government inspector who had opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, said an elected Democrat. Eliot Engel, head of the House of Representatives' Foreign Affairs Committee, said he learned that Steve Linick had opened an investigation into Mike Pompeo.
The State Department confirmed the dismissal of Inspector General Steve Linick overnight Friday to Saturday, without giving any reason.
Donald Trump did not like an investigation
"The fact that Mr. Linick was fired in the midst of such an investigation strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of reprisal," said Eliot Engel.
A Democratic congressional assistant, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Steve Linick is investigating complaints that Mike Pompeo has abused the services of a politically appointed person to perform personal tasks for him and his wife. The head of American diplomacy frequently travels around the world on the government aircraft with his wife, Susan Pompeo, which makes him cringe because she has no official role. Last year, CNN reported that a whistleblower complained that diplomatic security was carrying out inappropriate tasks such as taking care of the family dog or food.
Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi said Steve Linick had been "punished for honorably fulfilling his duty to protect the Constitution and our national security". "The president must break from this habit of retaliation and revenge against the officials who work in the service of American security, especially in these times of global emergency," added Nancy Pelosi.
Steve Linick, appointed by Barack Obama
Longtime attorney Steve Linick was appointed in 2013 by Donald Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, to oversee the $ 70 billion in American diplomacy. He also played a minor role last year in the soap opera of the impeachment procedure against Donald Trump by handing over to Congress documents from the president's lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
According to a spokesman for the State Department, the new inspector general will be Stephen Akard, a former assistant to Vice President Mike Pence. For the past year, Stephen Akard has headed the State Department's Office of Foreign Missions, which deals with relations with diplomats in the United States.
Mike Pompeo, 56, is a very close associate of Donald Trump and one of the few who has managed to avoid any visible discrepancy with an impulsive and unpredictable president. He took office on April 26, 2018 to succeed Rex Tillerson, who had a stormy relationship with Donald Trump. In recent months, he has turned a corner in American diplomacy and promoted, contrary to the opinion of many scientists, that the Covid-19 pandemic came from a Chinese laboratory.
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