Pompeo Says ‘Patently False’ That He Had IG Fired as Retaliation, But Refuses to Say Why When Pressed By Reporters

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faced a barrage of questions on Wednesday about his encouragement for President Donald Trump to fire Inspector General Steve Linick.

During his press conference from the State Department, Pompeo was asked for his reaction to the letter Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) sent out, which asked why Linick was fired while he was reportedly investigating the secretary.

“The president has the unilateral right to choose who he wants to be his inspector general at every agency in the federal government,” Pompeo answered. “In this case, I recommended to the president that Steve Linick be terminated. Frankly, should have done it some time ago.”

Pompeo was also asked to elaborate on his claim that Linick undermined the department’s mission, but he refused the question by saying “I don’t talk about personnel matters. I don’t leak to y’all.”

“Let’s be clear. There are claims that this was retaliation for some investigation that the inspector general’s office was engaged in. It’s patently false,” he said. “I have no sense of what investigations were taking place inside the inspector generals office.”

As Pompeo dismissed the “crazy stuff” detailed in reports about Linick’s inquiries, he claimed that it was “impossible” for him to have acted in retaliation without knowing what investigations were happening. He did acknowledge “one exception,” however, in connection with his answers to Linick’s questions on whether the Trump administration issued an emergency declaration in May in order to proceed with an arms sale to Saudi Arabia.

The weapons sale has been drawn political scrutiny, and reports have said that Pompeo gave written answers to Linick after declining the latter’s request for an interview.

Watch above, via C-SPAN.

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