US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said today that his department completely abided by the rules in all its steps regarding arms sales to Saudi Arabia in 2019, in response to the findings of the US State Department's Inspector General's report that the department had not fully assessed the risks of civilian casualties in Yemen, When it went ahead with selling a huge amount of precision-guided munitions to Riyadh.

"We did everything according to the rules," Pompeo told a news conference in the Czech capital, Prague. "I am proud of the work done by my team. We achieved a really impressive result. We prevented loss of life."

Congress had requested an investigation into President Donald Trump's administration’s decision in May 2019 to proceed with $ 8 billion in arms sales to Saudi Arabia and other countries, bypassing the review process in Congress by declaring President Trump a state of emergency due to tensions with Iran in order to implement a deal. Arms sales.

Secretary Pompeo did not attend a Congressional review session of the State Department's Inspector General's report, providing a written statement instead.

A state of emergency
The inspector’s report did not take a position on whether the emergency invocation was correct to implement the arms deal for the Kingdom, and he said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not violate the Arms Export Control Law.

Middle East Eye:
(Congressman Elliott Engel accuses the State Department of attempting to mislead, after Pompeo announced that the ministry had not found any violations in the Trump administration's exercise of emergency authority, which was "under the pretext" of selling weapons to Saudi Arabia.) Https://t.co / O1pB9k4cAE

- Key (@ keymiftah79) August 11, 2020

Congress had sought to freeze arms sales to Saudi Arabia since October 2018, following the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside his country's consulate in Istanbul, and the US intelligence services concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing.

A year later, former State Department Inspector General Steve Linnick investigated the declaration of a state of emergency that enabled Trump to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and bypass Congress, as lawmakers from both parties criticized the Saudi-led coalition's military intervention in Yemen, and the massive loss of civilian life it caused.

Members of Congress have prevented some US arms sales to Saudi Arabia out of concern that smart bombs and other equipment made by the American company Raytheon Technologies may contribute to heavy civilian casualties and a humanitarian disaster in the Yemen war.

Trump abruptly fired Linnick in May, following advice from Pompeo, and even Stephen Akard, who succeeded Linnick as acting inspector, also resigned last week after the ministry's inspectorate completed the report on the arms deal to Riyadh.

Congressional committees are investigating the sacking of the State Department's Inspector General, which was one of a series of sackings by Trump, raising concern over oversight.