Pompeo refused to cooperate with watchdog probe into $8B arms sale to Saudi Arabia, source says
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refused to sit for an interview with the State Department inspector general's office as part of its probe into the administration's move to bypass Congress and expedite last year's $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia by declaring an emergency, a congressional aide told CNN Monday.
Neither the State Department nor the office of the inspector general responded to CNN's request for comment on the matter.
The allegation Pompeo declined to cooperate with the investigation came after House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Eliot Engel, claimed the State Department inspector general fired by President Donald Trump on Friday, Steve Linick, had nearly completed an investigation into Pompeo's controversial decision to fast-track the same arms sale.
"I have learned that there may be another reason for Mr. Linick's firing. His office was investigating — at my request — Trump's phony declaration of an emergency so he could send weapons to Saudi Arabia. We don't have the full picture yet, but it's troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Mr. Linick pushed out before this work could be completed," Engel, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement to CNN Monday.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/pompeo-refused-to-cooperate-with-watchdog-probe-into-dollar8b-arms-sale-to-saudi-arabia-source-says/ar-BB14fR1X?li=BBnbcA1
