Washington
Less than 24 hours after the sudden firing of a State Department watchdog critical of personnel moves within the agency, a White House official said the ousting came on the advice of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo “recommended the move” and President Donald Trump “agreed,” the official said. Friday night’s firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick came as he “was looking into the Secretary’s misuse of a political appointee at the Department to perform personal tasks for himself and Mrs. Pompeo,” a Democratic aide told NBC News. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot L. Engel, D-N.Y., said Friday that he learned Linick “had opened an investigation into Pompeo.
