U.S. Democratic lawmakers are launching an investigation into President Donald Trump’s firing of the State Department’s inspector general.
Trump fired Steve Linick late Friday, the latest in his series of dismissals of the government watchdogs. The president has now dismissed three since his February acquittal on impeachment charges by the U.S. Senate and has criticized others.
Linick is reported to have opened an investigation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Reports indicate that Secretary Pompeo personally made the recommendation to fire Mr. Linick, and it is our understanding that he did so because the Inspector General had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Secretary Pompeo himself,” Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Eliot Engel said Saturday in a joint letter to the White House.
“Such an action . . . may be an illegal act of retaliation.” said Menendez, the ranking member of the Senate committee on foreign relations and Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The lawmakers asked the White House to handover any documents related to Linick’s firing to their committees.
Linick was appointed to the inspector general post by President Barack Obama.
Linick’s participation in the impeachment process was limited to briefing several congressional committees and providing the lawmakers with documents from Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer.