Trump’s fired IG Steve Linick was investigating about an Arm Deal with Saudi Arabia and UAE

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On Monday, reports have indicated the inspector general fired by Donald Trump was investigating Mike Pompeo fast-tracked an $8 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and its allies. The House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel said that firing of Steve Linick was allegedly linked to an investigation over the administration’s use of an emergency declaration to sell weapons without the approval of US Congress. The top watchdog of the US State Department was terminated on Friday night with initial reports he was investigating the Secretary of State for ordering subordinates to walk his dog and run personal errands like picking up dry cleaning.

I've learned there may be another reason for IG Linick’s firing. His office was investigating—at my request—Trump’s phony emergency declaration so he could send Saudi Arabia weapons. We don’t have the full picture yet, but it’s troubling that Sec Pompeo wanted Linick pushed out. https://t.co/YBs9k45Tko

— Eliot Engel (@RepEliotEngel) May 18, 2020

Engel said that Pompeo personally made the recommendation to fire the inspector general because Linick had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Pompeo. He said, “I’ve learned there may be another reason for IG Linick’s firing. His office was investigating–at my request–Trump’s phony emergency declaration so he could send Saudi Arabia weapons. We don’t have the full picture yet, but it’s troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Linick pushed out”. It is noteworthy that Engle’s Foreign Affairs Committee has launched an investigation into the Friday night termination and has asked the Trump administration to turn over records and details related to the removal.

Point to be noted that Linick was serving as the State Department’s inspector general since 2013. He was probing the emergency declaration that allowed the transfer of weapons in May 2019 to Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. Trump was heavily criticized for using the emergency declaration, which sidestepped law requiring the notification of the US Congress of a weapons sale to a foreign country with 30 days for the House and Senate to stop the sale. The US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also said the firing could be illegal if designed as retaliation for the Pompeo probe. She tweeted and said, “The late-night, weekend firing of State Department IG Steve Linick is an acceleration of the President’s dangerous pattern of retaliation against the patriotic public servants charged with conducting oversight on behalf of the American people”.