With Americans distracted by the toll of the pandemic, the President seized the moment to execute a Friday night firing of the inspector general at the State Department who aided lawmakers during the impeachment inquiry -- a move that drew outrage from Democrats and admonishments from Republican Sens. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and
Mitt Romney of Utah.
State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was
investigating whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a staffer perform a variety of personal errands, including walking his dog, picking up dry cleaning and making a dinner reservation for him and his wife, a Democratic aide told CNN Sunday.
Linick was the fourth
independent government watchdog that Trump has either
fired or moved to replace in the months since his impeachment acquittal in February, maneuvers motivated
by his perceptions that the officials were disloyal, critical of his administration, or simply holdovers from Democratic administrations.
Romney, the only GOP senator who
voted to convict Trump of abuse of power, tweeted that "the firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power."
Linick's dismissal was similar to the Friday night firing in April of
Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community who alerted Congress to the anonymous Ukraine whistleblower complaint. In both cases, Trump told Congressional leaders he needed to have the "fullest confidence" in appointees serving as inspectors general and that he had lost that confidence.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders -- echoing
his Democratic colleagues who have opened an investigation into the firing -- was sharply critical of Linick's dismissal Sunday during an appearance on ABC's "This Week."
"This President thinks he's above the law, he is above criticism. He wants to get away with anything that he can, and he does not understand that in the function of government you have a Congress, you have inspector generals who say, by the way, Mr. President, what you're doing is wrong, and it may be illegal. This has been his modus operandi from day one," Sanders said.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation" that the White House has not provided reasons for the State Department Inspector General's removal beyond the letter she received from Trump on Friday. Removing an inspector general who has opened
a potentially damaging investigation could be "unlawful," she said, adding that "even Republicans in Congress are concerned."
But if that is true, only a few have spoken up, including Grassley, Romney and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
Sen. Ron Johnson, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, told CNN's Tapper on "State of the Union" that
he was satisfied with the administration's explanation for removing Linick.
"I don't know whether they're going to provide any more robust rationale for doing it," Johnson said. He also said he and Grassley had a "real problem" with Linick's "responsiveness" to one oversight request, though he did not provide any more detail.
In a statement Saturday, Grassley said the President was required to provide lawmakers with a written explanation for removing inspectors general and said, "a general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress."
This story has been updated with details about Linick's investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Annie Grayer, Sarah Westwood and Zachary Cohen contributed to this story.
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