WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats have subpoenaed four top aides to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, saying that the Trump administration is stonewalling their investigation into the firing of the State Department’s top independent watchdog earlier this year.
Former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick appeared for a closed-door interview in the probe in June and told investigators that top department officials tried to bully him and dissuade his office from conducting a review of a multibillion- dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia before he was fired.
Linick 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.
Democrats announced Monday they had subpoenaed the officials because they were “refusing to negotiate in good faith” and talk to the committee.
“That stonewalling has made today’s subpoenas necessary, and the committees will continue to pursue this investigation to uncover the truth that the American people deserve,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., and the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez.