U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday declined to say why he recommended firing the State Department's inspector general, but added he should have done it earlier and rejected claims his decision was motivated by political retaliation.
WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday declined to say why he recommended firing the State Department’s inspector general, but added he should have done it earlier and rejected claims his decision was motivated by political retaliation.
“In this case, I recommended to the president that Steve Linick be terminated. Frankly should have done it some time ago,” he told reporters in his first public comments since President Donald Trump’s Friday night firing. “There is one exception. I was asked a series of questions in writing. I responded to those questions with respect to a particular investigation. That was some time earlier this year,” he said without disclosing the subject matter. He said he neither knew the scope nor the nature of that investigation.
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