Fired Watchdog Was Reviewing Saudi Arms Sale, Pompeo’s Staff Use
- Pompeo says Linick wasn’t making the State Department ‘better’
- Romney calls moves ‘unprecedented’ as Democrats plan inquiry
Mike Pompeo, U.S. secretary of state, speaks with attendees while arriving for a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Jan. 28, 2020.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The ousted State Department inspector general was examining several issues that may have drawn Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s ire in what has become the latest sign of the Trump administration’s stepped-up pressure on independent watchdogs.
President Donald Trump informed lawmakers late Friday night that he was dismissing Steve Linick, saying he no longer had “the fullest confidence” in the man charged with investigating possible corruption at the State Department. Trump tapped Ambassador Stephen Akard, a longtime ally of Vice President Mike Pence, as his replacement.