President Donald Trump has fired the State Department's inspector general, whose office criticized the agency's management for alleged political bias — triggering charges by Democrats the ouster was unvarnished political payback.
The Friday night firing of Steve Linick, an Obama appointee, marked the latest in moves against independent executive branch watchdogs who have found fault with the Trump administration. No specific reason for Linick's firing was offered.
In a letter to Congress — and without mentioning Linick's name — Trump said the inspector general, who had held the job since 2013, no longer had his full confidence and his removal would take effect in 30 days.
Capitol Hill Democrats immediately pounced on Trump for trying to block an investigation by Linick into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — and announced an investigation, The Hill reported.
"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," ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter sent Saturday to the White House, State Department and Office of the Inspector General, The Hill reported.
"Such an action, transparently designed to protect Secretary Pompeo from personal accountability, would undermine the foundation of our democratic institutions and may be an illegal act of retaliation."
According to NPR, an unnamed Democratic aide said Linick was looking into whether Pompeo misused a political appointee at the Department of State to perform personal tasks for the secretary and his wife.
"We unalterably oppose the politically motivated firing of inspectors general and the president's gutting of these critical positions," Menendez and Engel fumed.
Earlier, in a statement, Engel charged Linick's firing amid a Pompeo probe "strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation."
Linick's office has issued several reports critical of the department's handling of personnel matters during the Trump administration, including accusing some of political appointees of retaliating against career officials.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., also condemned Linick's removal, saying he had been "punished for honorably performing his duty to protect the Constitution and our national security."
"The president must cease his pattern of reprisal and retaliation against the public servants who are working to keep Americans safe, particularly during this time of global emergency,” she demanded.
Linick, whose office also took issue with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she served as America's top diplomat, played a minor role in the Ukraine impeachment investigation into Trump.
In October, Linick turned over documents to House investigators that he had received from State Department’s Counselor T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, a close Pompeo associate, which contained information from debunked conspiracy theories about Ukraine's role in the 2016 election.
Linick will be replaced by Stephen Akard, a former career foreign service officer who has close ties to Vice President Mike Pence, an unnamed official told the Associated Press. Akard currently runs the department's Office of Foreign Missions. He had been nominated to be the director general of the foreign service but withdrew after objections he was not experienced enough.
Linick, a former assistant U.S. attorney in California and Virginia, had overseen inspector general reports that were highly critical of the department's management policies during the Trump administration. His office had criticized several Trump appointees for their treatment of career staff for apparently being insufficiently supportive of Trump and his policies.
Under Linick, the State Department's inspector general office was also critical of former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's hiring freeze and attempts to streamline the agency by slashing its funding and personnel.
Independent government watchdogs have been targets for Trump recently.
In April, he fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, for his role in the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump's impeachment.
Then Trump removed Glenn Fine as acting inspector general at the Defense Department, a move that stripped him of his post as chairman of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee.
During a White House briefing on COVID-19, Trump questioned the independence of an inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services over a report that said there was a shortage of supplies and testing at hospitals.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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