U.S. President Donald Trump fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick late on Friday, with the ousting leading to heavy criticism from senior Democratic lawmakers, including House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“This is to advise that I am exercising my power as President to remove from office the Inspector General of the Department of State, effective 30 days from today,” he said.
The letter did not say who would replace Linick, who was appointed to the role in 2013 under the Obama administration and is the latest in a string of government watchdogs to be removed in recent weeks.
However, the U.S. Department of State said that he would be replaced by Stephen Akard, the director of the Office of Foreign Missions.
“On September 11, 2019, Ambassador Akard was confirmed by the Senate, 90-2, to lead the Department’s Office of Foreign Missions and we look forward to him leading the Office of the Inspector General,” a State Department representative told the media.
Democratic lawmakers condemned Linick’s removal, with Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, suggesting it was connected to a probe that the inspector general had opened into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
