US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said US President Donald Trump’s dismissal of an investigator from the State Department’s highest internal service “could be illegal” if it was a retaliation against one of his investigations.
Late Friday night, Trump dismissed Inspector General Steve Linick, the fourth Inspector General, whom he dismissed from early April after his acquittal in February by the Republican-controlled Senate during the impeachment trial.
“The president has the right to dismiss any federal employee, but the fact is that if it looks like it is a revenge for what the inspector general of IG investigated, it may be illegal,” Pelosi told CNN in an interview with State of the Union.
On Saturday, senior Democrats on the House’s and Senate’s External Relations Committee launched an investigation into the dismissal, saying that, as they understand it, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo personally recommended Linik’s dismissal, as the Inspector General “initiated the investigation into the violations by Secretary Pompeo himself.”
A State Department spokesman confirmed that Linik was fired, but did not comment on Pompeo’s role in the firing.
Meanwhile, White House adviser Peter Navarro downplayed the shooting, saying that what Trump calls the “deep state” has caused problems, and those who are not loyal should leave.