New York Times: Pompeo Abuses in Saudi Arms Deals at Congress Table

The New York Times, Thursday, said that the US Congress is considering whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has asked President Trump to dismiss Steve Link, Inspector General of the Department, to avenge the investigations.

A senior State Department official who helped Secretary of State Mike Pompeo bypass a congressional freeze on arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates pushed the agency’s inspector general to drop an investigation into whether that effort was illegal, the former inspector general told lawmakers.

The senior official, Marik String, now the department’s top lawyer, was acting chief of the agency’s political-military affairs bureau in early 2019 when Mr. Pompeo and aides tried to come up with a means of circumventing Congress on a sale of 22 batches of munitions worth $8.1 billion, much of it made by Raytheon. Lawmakers from both parties had held up the sale because the Persian Gulf nations had been using American-made weapons in an air war in Yemen that has killed thousands of civilians.

Congress is looking into whether Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asked President Trump to fire Steve Linick, the department’s inspector general, to retaliate for investigations.

According to the New York Times, “The three congressional committees that investigated the sacking of the Inspector General asked Linnik to interview him, and they also requested an interview with seven State Department employees, including Mr. String and Mr. Bulataw, but none of them agreed to the request. Mr. Pompeo also did not agree to an interview with Mr. Linnik regarding the investigation of the sale of arms.

Lawmakers confirm that officials have informed them informally that the administration is planning to sell another package of precision-guided missiles to Saudi Arabia, worth $ 478 million, and granted Raytheon a license to expand its industrial footprint in the kingdom.

Souce: The New York Times

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