{"id":13955,"date":"2020-05-18T18:01:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T18:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/18\/fired-state-department-ig-probed-trumps-saudi-arms-deals\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T20:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T20:00:11","slug":"fired-state-department-ig-probed-trumps-saudi-arms-deals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2020\/05\/18\/fired-state-department-ig-probed-trumps-saudi-arms-deals\/","title":{"rendered":"Fired State Department IG probed Trump\u2019s Saudi arms deals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 The U.S. State Department inspector general was investigating the Trump administration\u2019s use of an emergency declaration<\/a> to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia when he was fired, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee said Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump announced late Friday that he was firing Steve Linick, the inspector general since 2013, which sparked a backlash from Democrats, who suggested Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was responsible for what \u201cmay be an illegal act of retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, tweeted on Monday that Linick\u2019s \u201coffice was investigating \u2014 at my request \u2014 Trump\u2019s phony emergency declaration so he could send Saudi Arabia weapons. We don\u2019t have the full picture yet, but it\u2019s troubling that Sec Pompeo wanted Linick pushed out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump, in May 2019, declared an emergency under the Arms Export Control Act to bypass Congress and expedite $8.1 billion in weapon sales for Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. At the time, Pompeo said the sales were needed \u201cto deter further the malign influence of the Government of Iran throughout the Middle East region.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawmakers were delaying the sales<\/a> over humanitarian concerns<\/a>, and Democrats pushed back over what they saw as overreach by the executive branch. In June 2019, 26 Democrats asked Linick to investigate the declaration, calling the justification for for it \u201cdubious.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the wake of the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi \u2015 who the American intelligence community says was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Turkey under orders by the Saudi kingdom \u2015 Congress passed a series of measures on a bipartisan basis aimed at curbing U.S. support for Riyadh\u2019s involvement in Yemen\u2019s civil war. Trump vetoed the measures and the Senate failed to override.<\/p>\n\n\n\t