Democrats to interview state department watchdog fired by Trump

Members of three House and Senate committees will on Wednesday interview Steve Linick, the state department inspector general who was fired abruptly by Donald Trump.

According to two congressional aides working on the investigation who requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door meeting, Linick will speak to members of the House foreign affairs and oversight committees and the Senate foreign relations committee.

Democrats announced on Friday that they are expanding their investigation into Linick’s firing, as part of a larger effort by Democrats and some Republicans to find out more about Trump’s moves to sideline several independent watchdogs.

The Democrats plan to interview officials in the administration who may have more information about Linick’s dismissal on 15 May, including whether secretary of state Mike Pompeo recommended the firing for retaliatory reasons.

Pompeo has denied Linick’s firing was retaliatory but has not given specific reasons for his dismissal.

The investigation is being led by House foreign affairs chair Eliot Engel, oversight chair Carolyn Maloney and New Jersey senator Bob Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations panel. Republicans on those panels will be invited to question Linick and other witnesses.

“If Secretary Pompeo pushed for Mr Linick’s dismissal to cover up his own misconduct, that would constitute an egregious abuse of power and a clear attempt to avoid accountability,” the Democrats said in a joint statement on Friday.

The committees said they would release transcripts shortly after each interview.

It’s unclear whether Linick will come to Capitol Hill in person. The House will be out of session as lawmakers work from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Several other state officials have been asked to sit for interviews, Pompeo allies among them. Democrats and some Republicans have pushed the administration for more answers about the firings but the White House has provided few, simply stating the dismissals were well within Trump’s authority.

Pompeo said he had been concerned about Linick’s work for some time and regretted not calling for his dismissal earlier. He said he recommended to Trump that Linick be fired.

Pompeo told reporters 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, such as walking his dog and picking up dry cleaning and takeout food. Thus, Pompeo said, the move could not have been retaliatory.

Pompeo did acknowledge that he was aware of an investigation 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 posed by Linick’s office. He maintained he did not know the scope or scale of the investigation.

Engel and Menendez have been demanding answers and documents from the state department and Pompeo for months on subjects far beyond Linick’s dismissal. They earlier demanded that administration officials preserve and turn over all records related to Linick’s dismissal. They said they have received no information so far.

Linick is one of several inspectors general whom Trump has removed, sparking outrage among Democrats. Linick was an Obama appointee whose office was critical of what it saw as political bias in current management but had also taken issue with Democratic appointees.

He played a small role in Trump’s impeachment. In October, Linick turned over documents to House investigators he received from a close Pompeo associate that contained information from conspiracy theories about Ukraine’s role in the 2016 US election.

Democrats were investigating Trump’s pressure on Ukraine to investigate Democrats. Michael Atkinson, inspector general for the intelligence community, triggered the investigation when he alerted Congress about a whistleblower complaint that described a call between Trump and Ukraine’s president. Trump fired Atkinson in April.

Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa has said the White House is legally required to provide more answers about the firings and gave Trump a deadline to give them. But in a letter to the Republican this week, the administration offered no new details.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone said Trump has the authority to remove inspectors general, appropriately alerted Congress and selected qualified replacements.

The president also moved to replace the chief watchdog at the Department of Health and Human Services, Christi Grimm, who testified that her office was moving ahead with reports and audits on the response to the coronavirus pandemic despite Trump’s public criticism of her.

Trump demoted acting defense inspector general Glenn Fine, removing him as head of a special board to oversee auditing of coronavirus economic relief. Fine resigned.