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On Friday, Trump fired the inspector general of the State Department, Steve Linick. In accordance with the 2008 Inspector General Reform Act, which protects inspectors general from being fired without cause, Trump informed Congress in writing about the intent to fire Linick, expressing that he no longer had the “fullest confidence” in Linick, who was appointed to that position in 2013 by Barack Obama. Democrats naturally have come out of the woodwork to express their faux outrage, and to launch an investigation into the firing over allegations that Trump acted to protect Pompeo. But where were these Democrats in 2009...

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said on Thursday that he is placing a hold on two of President Trump's nominees, saying the administration provided an "inadequate response" to his questions about the firing of two inspectors general. Grassley is placing a hold on Christopher Miller's nomination to be the director of the National Counterterrorism Center over the firing of intelligence community Inspector General Michael Atkinson. He is also placing a hold on Marshall Billingslea's nomination to be the undersecretary for arms control and international security at the State Department for the ousting of State Department Inspector General Steven Linick. Grassley said...

A top State Department official has accused Steve Linick, the department’s fired inspector general, of contacting a former colleague, obtaining official documents and returning to his former office -- all in violation of the terms of his administrative leave, Fox News has learned. In a letter to Linick's attorney, obtained by Fox News, the State Department Under Secretary for Management Brian Bulatao says “in the days before his Congressional testimony, he sent a text message to the Deputy Inspector General, Diana Shaw, requesting a copy of the DOD IG report on the origins of a leak of a draft State...

On Friday, it was reported that State Department Inspector General Steve Linick had been fired. Immediately, the left pounced calling it “an unlawful act of retaliation.” The story was that Linick was conducting an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for asking subordinates to run personal errands for him and his wife. Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY) said, “I have learned that the Office of the Inspector General had opened an investigation into Secretary Pompeo. Mr. Linick’s firing amid such a probe strongly suggests that this is an unlawful act of retaliation.” House Democrats may want to hold their fire...

WASHINGTON – The State Department watchdog whom President Trump fired last Friday had been looking into whether Secretary Mike Pompeo had ordered a staffer to perform personal errands including walking his dog, making dinner reservations and grabbing dry cleaning, a source familiar with the investigation told Fox News on Sunday. Still, Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees already had requested, through public letters, records of any open inspector-general matter dealing with the Office of the Secretary. The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) announced the probe on Saturday, saying that they had requested the White House, State Department, and the State Department Office of Inspector General to preserve all records related to the firing and to hand over those documents to the two committees by May 22. Linick is the latest independent watchdog to be replaced this year. In April, Trump announced the dismissal of Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the Intelligence Community who handled the anonymous whistleblower complaint that triggered the House Democratic-led impeachment inquiry against Trump. Glenn Fine, the acting...

Democrats announced that they are beginning an investigation into President Trump’s firing of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick. House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel of New York and Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey made the announcement on Saturday, a day after Linick’s removal. The lawmakers requested all records about Linick’s firing from the White House, the State Department, and the State Department Office of Inspector General by next Friday.

President Donald Trump on Friday removed a watchdog critical of personnel moves in the State Department. Trump informed Congress of the move in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, in which he gave no specific reason for firing State Department Inspector General Steve Linick. Trump wrote he “no longer” had full confidence in the State Department's inspector general.

The State Department’s inspector general is expected to give an "urgent" briefing to staffers from several House and Senate committees on Wednesday afternoon about documents obtained from the department’s Office of the Legal Adviser related to the State Department and Ukraine, sources familiar with the planned briefing told ABC News. Details of the briefing, requested by Steve Linick, the inspector general at State, remain unknown. Linick is expected to meet with congressional staff in a secure location on Capitol Hill.

FULL TITLE: Major Red Flag Resurfaces=> Inspector General Admitted Hillary Clinton Refused Interview Request Over Email Probe (VIDEO) A video clip is making the internet rounds of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick testifying before the House Oversight Committee on July 7th, 2016, in which he revealed Hillary Clinton refused an interview request related to her email investigation.

Yesterday the Inspector Generals of the Intelligence Community and State Dept, (IC IG, McCullogh & IGDoS, Linick) sent a congressional notification to Congressional intelligence oversight committees… Inspectors General,had sampelled 40 out of the 30000 relevant emails, and found 4, (10%) to contain classified (& or) IC-derived information… “these emails contained classified information when they were generated and, according to IC classification officials, that information remains classified today”… “This classified information should never have been transmitted via an unclassified personal system”.