Chairmen of the House of Representatives committees in the US House of Representatives confirmed continuing to investigate the decision of President Donald Trump's administration to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Democrats in Congress issued summonses to four State Department officials to testify as part of the investigation into the sacking of former State Department inspector Steve Link.
The lawmakers said in a statement that the summons was based on information revealed in late July by Charles Falkner, a former senior State Department official, regarding the Trump administration's decision to sell weapons to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi under a false emergency declaration to complete the deal.
Representatives said that Faulkner's statement provided a picture of the design of a small group of senior officials in the State Department to ignore legitimate humanitarian concerns in the ministry and in Congress to complete more than $ 8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
And last May, US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Elliot Engel announced that President Trump dismissed State Department inspector Steve Linnick because of his investigation into Trump's billions of billions of dollars worth of arms sales to Riyadh last year.
In a message he sent to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, the US president said he no longer trusted the ability of the State Department's inspector general to perform his duties, without stating a reason for this. Democrats described the dismissal of Trump's fourth government inspector general by Trump as a political decision, noting that it might be against the law.
Later, the White House said that the president's decision to fire Inspector General Steve Linnic was made on the recommendation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, while a congressional source revealed that the article inspector was investigating complaints that Pompeo had exploited a person appointed by the political authority to carry out personal tasks for him and his wife.
To bypass congressional authority, a year ago, Trump implemented the Arms Export Control Act with the goal of enforcing 22 deals worth $ 8 billion to sell weapons that include guided munitions, mostly to Saudi Arabia, despite opposition from Democrats and some Republicans.
Then, the US administration relied on a provision in the arms sales laws that allows to bypass the congressional vote by declaring a national emergency, which was adopted by the Trump administration, speaking of tensions with Iran.