It’s late on a Friday evening but, Donald Trump is busy eliminating public servants from their oversight roles, while hoping the press and most Americans won’t pay much notice. But now most Americans don’t go out on a Friday Night like we used to. More of us will notice.
BY TAL AXELROD
State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was ousted Friday evening, becoming the latest government watchdog to be removed from his post.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed to The Hill that Ambassador Stephen Akard, a former career Foreign Service officer, will replace Linick, who was appointed to the role in 2013 by then-President Obama.
Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he had recently learned that Linick had recently opened up an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and suggested the firing was retaliation by the administration.
"This firing is the outrageous act of a President trying to protect one of his most loyal supporters, the Secretary of State, from accountability. I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation," Engel said in a statement. "In the days ahead, I will be looking into this matter in greater detail, and I will press the State Department for answers."
There are now 13 vacant Inspector General positions in the Trump Administration. No president has worked harder to cover their tracks than Trump has (with a big assist from Senate Republicans).