The US President Donald Trump has notified Congress of his intention in connection with the loss of confidence to relieve the Secretary of State of the United States, Steve Linick, who was appointed to this post in 2013 by ex-head of state Barack Obama, Politico reports.
In a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi, the US president said that Linik no longer enjoys his “full confidence”, and promised to nominate a person to the Senate who “meets all qualification requirements”. According to the publication, by law, if the “executive branch” plans to remove the inspector general, it must notify the congress about this within 30 days.
Trump’s decision caused dissatisfaction among Congressional Democrats. Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee committee, said in this way, “the President is trying to protect one of his most loyal supporters, Secretary of State (Mike Pompeo) from being held accountable”.
According to him, he “found out that the office of the inspector general began an investigation against Secretary of State Pompeo”.
As the official representative of the State Department told the publication, Stephen Akard will be in charge of the office of the inspector general.