Top Democrats launch investigation into late-night firing of State Department inspector general

Two top Democrats have told the Trump administration to preserve all records related to the Friday removal of the State Department’s inspector general, a late-night move that led House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to warn of an acceleration in a “dangerous pattern of retaliation” against federal watchdogs.

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) launched an investigation Saturday into the ouster of Steve Linick, the latest in a string of weekend removals of oversight officials who have clashed with the Trump administration. Engel, the chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, claimed Linick was fired after opening an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and said the timing suggested “an unlawful act of retaliation.”

“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,” he wrote with Menendez in an open letter. Continue reading.