WASHINGTON, May 18 -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked him to fire the State Department's Inspector General (IG) Steve Linick, of whom the president said had never heard.
Asked about his Friday's decision to oust Linick, Trump told reporters in the White House that "I don't know him at all, I never even heard of him, but I was asked to by the state department, by Mike."
"He is an Obama employee ... they ask me to terminate him, I have the absolute right as president to terminate," Trump said, adding that the removal should have been done a long time ago.
Trump also downplayed the reports about the state department watchdog was investigating if Pompeo had asked a staffer to run personal errands for him or his administration's decision to expedite arms sales to Saudi Arabia by declaring an emergency last year.
In an interview with The Washington Post earlier in the day, Pompeo said that he asked Trump to fire Linick, but he noted that he was unaware of Linick's ongoing investigation on him.
"It is not possible that this decision, or my recommendation rather, to the president rather, was based on any effort to retaliate for any investigation that was going on or is currently going on," Pompeo said. "Because I simply don't know. I'm not briefed on it. I usually see these investigations in final draft form 24 hours, 48 hours before the IG is prepared to release them."
U.S. media reported Sunday that Linick was investigating whether Pompeo "made a staffer walk his dog, pick up his dry cleaning, and make dinner reservations" for him and his wife.
Eliot Engel, chairman of House Foreign Affairs Committee, told U.S. media on Monday that Linick's office was also investigating Pompeo's decision to fast-track 8 billion U.S. dollars arms sale to Saudi Arabia last year.
Trump's decision to fire Linick is coming under bipartisan scrutiny. "The firings of multiple Inspectors General is uNPRecedented," tweeted Senator Mitt Romney, a Utah Republican, and 2017 Republican presidential nominee. "Doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose."
Engel and Senator Bob Menendez, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said Saturday that they had launched an investigation into the move, which they said was "politically-motivated."
2015考研英语阅读离婚保险
2015考研英语阅读印度经济反攻
2015考研英语阅读梅尔卡多纳
2015考研英语阅读书评名利赞
2015考研英语阅读东京的电力
2015考研英语阅读农药
2015考研英语阅读恶老板
2015考研英语阅读计算机模拟视觉
2015考研英语阅读跟领导走
2015考研英语阅读犯罪余震
2015考研英语阅读日本教训
2015考研英语阅读形体政治学
2015考研英语阅读双重股份结构
2015考研英语阅读预防癌症
2015考研英语阅读比高盛还好
2015考研英语阅读可选择的律所
2015考研英语阅读货币卡路里
2015考研英语阅读性选择
2015考研英语阅读喜马拉雅山受到污染
2015考研英语阅读红酒过敏
2015考研英语阅读互联网企业克隆来袭
2015考研英语阅读西班牙及市场
2015考研英语阅读奥运经济学
2015考研英语阅读理查德霍尔布鲁克
2015考研英语阅读欺人与自欺疑心病
2015考研英语阅读水的净化
2015考研英语阅读中国经济不咋地
2015考研英语阅读国富实论
2015考研英语阅读英国乡绅
2015考研英语阅读该出手时就出手
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |