WASHINGTON — The former State Department inspector general fired by President Donald Trump told lawmakers that two top officials tried to discourage his investigation into a U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia, according to congressional testimony released Wednesday.
The ousted inspector general, Steve Linick, said Under Secretary of State for Management Brian Bulatao told him “that we shouldn’t be doing the work because it was a policy matter not within the IG’s jurisdiction,” according to a transcript of his June 3 testimony.
The State Department’s acting legal advisor, Marik String, also questioned the probe, arguing it was outside the scope of the inspector general and purely a policy matter, Linick said.
But according to Linick, he refused to drop the investigation, saying his office’s mission was to evaluate whether policies are being implemented effectively and in accordance with the law.
“We don’t assess whether a policy is good or bad, but we assess how a policy — whether it’s efficiently and effectively implemented and whether rules are followed. And we continued to do that,“ Linick said.
Bulatao, who graduated in the same West Point class as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is a long-time confidant of the secretary. The two were in business together and when Pompeo was CIA director, he named Bulatao as chief operating officer at the agency.
Pompeo invoked a rarely used provision in federal law in May 2019 to declare an emergency and push through the $7 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates without having to secure congressional approval. Democrats in Congress questioned the legality of the move and requested the inspector general’s office look into the decision.
The inspector general’s office had opened the investigation into the controversial arms sale last November.
Linick’s testimony comes amid accusations from Democrats that Pompeo sought to have the inspector general fired in retaliation for investigations of his role in the Saudi arms sale and over the possible misuse of public resources by the secretary and his wife.
Linick told lawmakers that he informed two senior officials, Bulatao, Deputy Secretary of State Steve Biegun and Pompeo’s executive assistant about the investigations. “I wanted to make sure everybody was aware so that they wouldn’t be surprised,“ Linick said.
Despite the ex-inspector general’s account, Pompeo has said Linick’s firing couldn’t have been retaliation because he had “no sense of what investigations were taking place inside the inspector general’s office.”
Pompeo on Wednesday renewed his defense of how he handled the issue, saying Linick should have been fired earlier.
“Steve Linick was a bad actor,” Pompeo told a news conference. “[Inspectors General] work for the agency head, that’s me, and they’re supposed to deliver and help make that organization better. That’s not what Mr. Linick did.”
He added: “My mistake was letting Mr Linick stay here as long as he did.“
Pompeo was not asked, nor did he address Linick’s account that three senior officials in his office were aware of the IG investigations before he recommended the watchdog’s dismissal.
Linick also said there were disagreements with Bulatao over other issues.
“I would say that sometimes the relationship was professional; at other times, he tried to bully me,” Linick said.
In his private interview with the congressional committees, Linick said there were other previously undisclosed investigations pending before he was sacked, apart from ones on the Saudi arms deal and Pompeo’s use of government resources.
The probes were related to the conduct of the former chief of protocol who was dismissed last year, the granting of special visas for former Afghan and Iraqi translators who served with U.S. troops, and the circumstances surrounding a Global Women of Courage award that was scrapped.
Before he was fired, NBC News first reported, Linick had been looking at whether Pompeo made a State Department staffer walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning and make dinner reservations for Pompeo and his wife, among other personal errands.
