WASHINGTON -- After a daylong interview with the State Department inspector general who was fired last month after investigations of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's conduct, lawmakers of both parties said they came away with little better sense of the specifics surrounding his termination.
"What was disturbing was not so much anything he said as ... here we are deposing an [inspector general] who got fired for doing his job," said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who took part in the virtual interview jointly conducted by members and staff of the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees.
After he fired Linick last month, President Donald Trump said he acted on the encouragement of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who denied it was retaliation but said he wished he'd recommended it sooner.
In a brief opening statement, Linick said that "the record shows that I have served without regard to politics, having been nominated as an inspector general by presidents from both parties," he said. He served first at the Federal Housing Finance Agency and then for seven years at the State Department.
During questioning by lawmakers, Linick confirmed that his office was looking into alleged misuse by Pompeo and his wife of personnel who reportedly were asked to perform personal errands for them, as well as the administration's bypassing of congressional approval for arms sales to Saudi Arabia, according to a person familiar with the interview, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the closed session.
But the inspector general did not get into details, and he refused to speculate as to whether either of those matters had anything to do with why he was fired, the person said.
The interview took place despite a State Department letter to Linick's attorney on Tuesday warning against disclosure of "any classified information" or "information that may be subject to executive privilege and other protections."
In a letter to lawmakers obtained Wednesday, an undersecretary at the State Department, Brian Bulatao, wrote that "concern over Linick had grown" about his handling of what the State Department says was the unauthorized disclosure of a draft inspector general report and potential misconduct within the inspector general office.
A Section on 06/04/2020