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Ousted State Department Watchdog Says Official Pressed Him Over Probe of Saudi Arms Sales
Courtney McBride
6-7 minutes
WASHINGTON—The former State Department internal watchdog fired by President Trump told lawmakers that a senior department official discouraged him from probing U.S. arms sales to a pair of Gulf states before his ouster last month.
In June 3 testimony to three House and Senate committees, former Inspector General Steve Linick said Under Secretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao told him his office “shouldn’t be doing the work because it was a policy matter not within the IG’s jurisdiction.”
Mr. Linick said he resisted the “pressure” because his office is required by law to review the department’s work for compliance with applicable laws and regulations. He testified that his office wasn’t evaluating the policy merits of the declaration but its implementation.
On May 15, Mr. Trump notified Congress of his intent to terminate Mr. Linick, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has accused Mr. Linick of leaking to the news media and has said he recommended that Mr. Trump fire him. Mr. Linick has been on administrative leave since that date.
Congressional Democrats, who are investigating the circumstances of Mr. Linick’s termination, on Wednesday released a transcript of his June 3 interview.
Much of the questioning focused on an inquiry by Mr. Linick’s office into a May 2019 emergency declaration that facilitated arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two key allies in Washington’s then-intensifying confrontation with Iran. The declaration circumvented the traditional congressional review process, and lawmakers opposed to the arms sales denounced the declaration as another effort by the White House to undermine congressional oversight. Mr. Linick told the committees that the review was launched in response to a request from Congress.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he asked President Trump to fire Steve Linick, the inspector general who was investigating an $8 billion arms deal and Mr. Pompeo’s use of a political appointee. Mr. Pompeo denied the firing was retaliatory. Photo: Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse (Originally published May 20, 2020)
Asked about his relationship with Mr. Bulatao, Mr. Linick told lawmakers and staff, “sometimes the relationship was professional; at other times, he tried to bully me.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Pompeo said he hadn’t yet reviewed the full transcript of Mr. Linick’s testimony, but criticized the former inspector general’s performance.
“Steve Linick was a bad actor in the inspector general office here,” he told reporters. “He didn’t take on the mission of the State Department to make us better.”
The secretary of state said Mr. Linick had failed to probe the disclosure of information on an investigation into alleged political retaliation against career employees of the department. Mr. Pompeo referred to the inquiry as “a very politically sensitive document designed to destroy the career of a professional State Department official.”
At issue is a September 2019 article published by the Daily Beast regarding an inquiry into alleged political retaliation by Brian Hook against career department employees. Mr. Hook is the special representative for Iran and a senior policy adviser to Mr. Pompeo and previously served as the department’s director of policy planning.
Mr. Linick testified that the article appeared “after we submitted our report on political retaliation within the Office of the Secretary to the Department for comment.”
The State Department this week requested a formal investigation of Mr. Linick by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, an independent executive-branch office that serves as an umbrella group for agency offices of inspector general.
In a June 8 letter to CIGIE Chairman Michael Horowitz, Mr. Bulatao questioned Mr. Linick’s handling of the alleged unauthorized leaks; his use of a personal email account for official business; and contacts with Office of Inspector General staff and visits to the office since May 15.
Peter White, an attorney for Mr. Linick, disputed one of Mr. Bulatao’s claims in a letter Tuesday. Mr. White wrote that his client received no instructions to avoid contact with staffers in the office of the inspector general after his firing, as Mr. Bulatao alleged. By contrast, Mr. White wrote, Mr. Linick was focused on “ensuring an orderly transition of matters within the OIG.”
Mr. Linick said he had sought an interview with Mr. Pompeo in connection with the inquiry into the emergency declaration, but the secretary provided only written responses to a series of broad questions. Separately, Mr. Linick said he had informed senior department officials of “an administrative review of allegations relating to misuse of government’s resources by the Secretary and his wife.”
Mr. Linick told lawmakers he was shocked by his firing, and said he hadn’t received a satisfactory explanation for it. Trump administration officials argue the president’s loss of confidence in an individual provides sufficient justification.
A spokesman for Sen. Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) said Mr. Bulatao’s letter to Mr. Horowitz “does shed some more light on the situation,” and that the senator’s office is reviewing the relevant materials.
The Senate Finance Committee chairman has placed holds on Mr. Trump’s nominees pending information on the firing of multiple inspectors general.
Write to Courtney McBride at courtney.mcbride@wsj.com
apnews.com
Fired State Dept watchdog says he was bullied by officials
By MATTHEW LEE
4-5 minutes
WASHINGTON (AP) — The independent State Department watchdog fired by President Donald Trump says top department officials tried to bully him and dissuade his office from conducting a review of a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia.
Former Inspector General Steve Linick told Congress last week that two senior officials sought to block an inquiry into the arms deal, according to a transcript of the interview made public Wednesday by Democrats leading an investigation into his dismissal.
Linick, who had been inspector general since 2013, also said he was looking into previously reported allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife may have misused government staff to run personal errands and several other matters. Trump abruptly fired him late on May 15 with what Linick said was no warning or cited cause.
“I was in a state of shock because I had no advance notice of anything like that,” Linick said, recalling his reaction when he was informed of Trump’s decision. “I had no indication whatsoever.”
Shortly after the transcript was released, Pompeo called Linick a “bad actor” who had been acting inappropriately and not in the best interests of the State Department. Pompeo did not address the allegations of attempted bullying. He stood by his recommendation that Trump fire Linick, one of several inspectors general whom the president has recently dismissed.
Linick said he had opened a review of last year’s $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia at the request of lawmakers who claimed Pompeo had inappropriately circumvented Congress to approve the deal. Linick said the State Department’s top management officer, Brian Bulatao, and legal adviser Marik String tried to stop him.
Bulatao “said that we shouldn’t be doing the work because it was a policy matter not within the IG’s jurisdiction,” Linick said, adding that both Bulatao and String “were of the same mind” on the matter.
Linick said in the interview that he believed the Saudi review, which is continuing, was appropriate because it looked at whether proper procedures and regulations were followed. He said he had requested an interview with Pompeo on the matter but had never received a response. Linick acknowledged that Pompeo did respond in writing to questions.
“All I can say is it’s ongoing and their report is ongoing,” he said of the Saudi arms sale review.
Linick testified that he repeatedly clashed with Bulatao, a former business associate and close friend of Pompeo, over other issues as well. “I would say that sometimes the relationship was professional; at other times, he tried to bully me,” he said.
Pompeo, Bulatao and others have said Linick was dismissed in part because of inappropriate actions but also because of the alleged leak of one of his office’s reports into accusations of political reprisals by Trump appointees against career State Department officials.
Linick denied his office was responsible for the leak. He said an investigation into the alleged leak by the Defense Department inspector general cleared him and his office.
Linick’s office has been highly critical of such retaliation but had also criticized Democratic officials during the Obama administration, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server.
At a State Department news conference, Pompeo questioned the validity of the leak investigation and said he and others still had questions about the origin of information that was critical of the administration’s top envoy for Iran, Brian Hook.
“We have asked for a more through investigation than Mr. Linick asked for,” Pompeo said. “We’re determined to figure out how that information escaped to harm someone who works here.”
In addition to the Saudi arms deal and Pompeo’s use of government staff, Linick said that at the time of his ouster, his office had open reviews into several other matters. They included issues related to the conduct of the former chief of protocol who was dismissed last year, the curtailment of visas for former Afghan and Iraqi translators who served with U.S. forces, and a controversy over a rescinded Global Women of Courage award.
