One of the assistants in the State Department’s office was forced by the head of the Foreign Ministry to carry out his personal tasks, the TV company reports citing sources.
Stephen Linick’s dismissal from the position of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of State is due to a verification of evidence that Secretary of State Michael Pompeo abused his position by forcing his subordinate to walk his dog and pick up his belongings from the cleaning. This was reported by NBC on Sunday, citing sources in Congress.
The sources belong to a circle of people whose duty is to clarify all the proceedings that Linick may have against Pompeo. One of these proceedings concerns an assistant in the State Department’s office who was forced by the Foreign Minister to carry out his personal tasks beyond the scope of his direct duties. This included walking the dog, booking a table at restaurants for Pompeo and his wife and delivering dry cleaning supplies.
NBC also learned of another complaint of similar nature previously filed with the State Department’s Inspector General. The complainant claimed that Pompeo kept his guards as servants.
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi on Sunday in an interview with CBS expressed the view that the decision of U.S. President Donald Trump to fire Linick was illegal. Trump announced his intention to fire Inspector General Trump in a letter sent to Pelosi on Friday. According to the legislation, the administration must notify Congress 30 days in advance of the dismissal of inspectors, who perform supervisory functions at agencies.
On Saturday, Reuters reported, citing a representative of the White House, that the state secretary recommended to dismiss Linick, while the president gave his consent. Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives Eliot Angel (Democrat from the State of New York) said that he intends to study in detail the circumstances of Linick’s dismissal. According to Engel, lawmakers assume that Pompeo recommended removing Linick from his post due to the fact that “the inspector general opened an investigation into the abuses of the secretary of state himself”.