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The top Democrats on the House and Senate foreign affairs committees launched an investigation Saturday into President Trump‘s Friday night firing of State Department Inspector General (IG) Steve Linick.

Rep. Eliot Engel, the chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Sen. Bob Menendez, the lead Democrat on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, wrote letters to the White HouseState Department and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) to preserve all records related Linick’s dismissal and to turn the information over by Friday, May 22.

“President Trump’s unprecedented removal of Inspector General Linick is only his latest sacking of an inspector general, our government’s key independent watchdogs, from a federal agency. We unalterably oppose the politically-motivated firing of inspectors general and the president’s gutting of these critical positions,” Engel and Menendez wrote in the letter to the White House.

The lawmakers suggest that the firing “may be an illegal act of retaliation” because the IG was investigating 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,” the lawmakers write. “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.”

It was Pompeo who suggested to Trump that he fire Linick, two Trump Administration officials told Fox News on Saturday.

“Secretary Pompeo recommended the move, and President Trump agreed,” a White House official told Fox News.

A Democratic congressional aide told Fox News that Linick was investigating possible misuse of a political appointee at the State Department to perform personal tasks for Pompeo and his wife.

Trump fired Linick on Friday night, saying in a letter to Congress that he no longer had confidence in the State Department IG — who was appointed during the Obama administration and had overseen reports critical of the department’s policies since Trump took office.

Fox News learned in October 2019 that Linick had hosted a closed-door briefing on the Ukraine investigation for congressional committee aides that examined communications between Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and fired Ukrainian prosecutor Viktor Shokin and current Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko.

Before that, his office had raised concerns about then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.

Linick’s removal continues a series of changes among the government’s inspectors general. The most notable of which was Trump’s April firing of then-Inspector General for the Intelligence Community Michael Atkinson for his role in the whistleblower complaint that led the Ukraine probe — and Trump’s subsequent impeachment.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, a longtime advocate for inspectors general who denounced Atkinson’s ouster, joined Democrats Saturday in criticizing Trump’s latest IG firing.

Grassley, R-Iowa, said the 2008 Inspector General Reform Act requires the president to provide Congress with a written explanation at least 30 days prior to removing an inspector general — and Trump didn’t meet this responsibility.

“As I’ve said before, Congress requires written reasons justifying an IG’s removal,” Grassley said in a statement. “A general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress.”

Linick will be replaced by Stephen Akard, a former career foreign service officer with close ties to Vice President Pence, a Trump administration official told The Associated Press.

(Excerpt from Fox News. Article by Marisa Schultz.)

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Kate Priere
May 20, 2020

Two wrongs don’t make a right. We can’t fight fire with fire. We must fight fire with prayer. I pray that if there is more to this story that it will be revealed. Lord, would you please fight the battle against the deep state. Would you move on our behalf. Please give our president and his advisors faith and wisdom. Lord, we cry out to you, knowing that whatever happens in the political arena you will be with us and will bring glory to yourself.

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Vena
May 20, 2020

My President can hire n fire anybody for no good reason at all. He doesnt have his cabinet in place because the dems wont approve his choices. This is the first President who isnt able to put his cabinet in place. Four years n he has only half. Prayers for all the leaders to start working together agreeing on issues important to the people. So much division, mending, ho’oponopono (make right). Nit picking like kids got to stop.
Prayers is Powerful…

15
    Cathy
    May 21, 2020

    My president is a warrior.
    My president is a general in the midst of intense battles on many fronts.
    I am thankful to God for my president Donald J Trump. He has courage unlike any other. He owes not one dime or favor to anyone. He loves his country. He loves the people he serves.
    Mike Pompeo is going after China so the other side is attempting to take him down. The president is responding, doing what he thinks best. God help him, protect him, fill him with your wisdom.

    8

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