House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) criticized President Trump's move to oust State Department inspector general Steve Linick. On CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday, she said it was "typical" for the White House to announce something "unsavory" late on a Friday night.
Why it matters: Top Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee have opened an investigation into the removal of Linick, who was reportedly investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for misusing agency staff for personal errands.
Linick is the fourth inspector general that Trump has sought to remove in six weeks, and the third whose ouster has come on a Friday night.
Axios reported last month that sources close to Trump expected him to fire more inspectors general across his government, after his Friday night removal of Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community watchdog who alerted Congress to the complaint that triggered his impeachment.
Conservative allies of the president have told him that these IGs are members of the “deep state” trying to undermine him.
"The president has the right to fire any federal employee. But the fact is, if it looks like it is in retaliation for something that the IG, the inspector general, is doing, that could be unlawful. ... He didn't say in his letter any reason, except that he lost confidence. He has lost confidence in other IGs because they have been investigating, or have reason to believe that something should be investigated, that he is doing. I really do think that presidents should not have the ability to undo investigations into their own actions."
Go deeper: Romney calls Trump's purge of IGs "a threat to accountable democracy"
arod1086 on May 17th, 2020 at 22:24 UTC »
Going to address a few thing dive seen in the comment. 1) It is pretty normal in DC to do things which will be seen negatively or problematic late on Fridays. If anyone's seen the West Wing it's called Trash Day, the thinking is no one really looks at the Friday evening/Saturday (all day) news so it puts some distance on the action to the reaction. 2) Someone on her was commenting on how the Dems react this way to everything he does and it's getting a bit tiring. THAT'S THE FUCKING POINT!!! That is precisely why he continues to act the way he does, inch by inch, brick by brick, layer by layer he's eroding everything away. Speration of powers, oversight, respect for any kind of Government organizations, civil discourse, anyone/anything and everything that oposes him or keeps him from getting what he wants becomes a target for ridicule and slowly eaten away at. His tiny movements and decisions when taken individually don't amount to much and make the Democratic party reaction look like overkill but look at the bigger picture long term. We are now in a moment where it is vertually impossible to do your job in government if it goes contrary to his wishes. Think about that for a second, a State Department/Treasury/IRS/CDC ext employee is now in danger of loosing their job because this president will not listen to any expert unless that expert says what he wants to hear. If Trump were president in 1962 the world would've ended in nuclear war. This is a terrible administration, politics has nothing to do with it, I don't care if a dem wins I just want this man and everyone in his administration gone. He has done more damage to this nation then any terrorist could have, he's eroded the very core of it.
WL_Generals on May 17th, 2020 at 17:11 UTC »
I’m old enough to remember the Friday Night Massacre and so is 45. He has even said he won’t make the same mistakes Nixon made. He’s covering his tracks now because he has SCOTUS and the Senate to cover for him but when he’s out of office we will see the avalanche of corruption fall on him and his regime
hildebrand_rarity on May 17th, 2020 at 16:30 UTC »
You mean doing their job and holding him accountable.