Trump's firing of State Department watchdog may be 'unlawful,' Pelosi says

[webfact]

Trump's firing of State Department watchdog may be 'unlawful,' Pelosi says

By Sarah N. Lynch and Doina Chiacu

 

FILE PHOTO: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) holds her weekly news conference with Capitol Hill reporters in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2020. REUTERS/Erin Scott

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's firing of the State Department's top internal watchdog "could be unlawful" if it was intended to retaliate against one of his investigations, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Sunday.

 

Trump late Friday ousted Inspector General Steve Linick, the fourth inspector general he has fired since early April, following his February acquittal by the Republican-controlled Senate in his impeachment trial.

 

"The president has the right to fire any federal employee, but the fact is if it looks like it's in retaliation for something the IG, the inspector general, was investigating, that could be unlawful," Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union."

 

The top Democrats on the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Saturday began a probe into the firing, saying it was their understanding that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo personally recommended Linick's sacking because the inspector general "had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Secretary Pompeo himself."

 

A State Department spokesperson confirmed Linick had been fired but did not comment on Pompeo's role in the dismissal.

 

White House adviser Peter Navarro, meanwhile, downplayed the firing, saying that what Trump terms the "deep state" has caused problems and those who are not loyal must go.

 

"We've had tremendous problems with, some people call it the 'Deep State.' And I think that's apt. So I don't mourn the loss," Navarro, the director of the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy, said in an interview on ABC's "This Week."

 

"There's a bureaucracy out there. And there's a lot of people in that bureaucracy who think they got elected president and not Donald J. Trump."

Navarro did not offer any evidence to back up his claim.

 

Trump and his allies have long pushed conspiracy theories that target what they denounce as the "deep state," career civil servants meant to be nonpolitical who, they say, are working to undermine Trump.

 

Navarro's comments are likely to further inflame tensions with Democrats who have sounded alarms over what they call an escalating pattern by Trump of firing watchdogs whom he views as a threat to his presidency.

 

In April, Trump removed a top coronavirus watchdog, Glenn Fine, who was to oversee the government's financial relief response to the pandemic.

He also notified Congress that he was firing the inspector general of the U.S. intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, who was involved in triggering the impeachment investigation.

 

After Atkinson's firing, a bipartisan group of senators, including Republicans Charles Grassley, Susan Collins and Mitt Romney, called on Trump to provide a detailed written explanation for his decision.

 

Then earlier this month, Trump ousted Christi Grimm, who led the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, after accusing her of having produced a "fake dossier" on American hospitals suffering shortages on the frontlines of the coronavirus outbreak.

 

Experts say the pattern threatens the independent oversight function that inspectors general provide, particularly if watchdogs feel pressure to do the president's political bidding or risk being fired for refusing.

 

The system itself is now "weakening to the point of ineffectiveness," said Dan Meyer, the executive director of Intelligence Community Whistleblowing and Source Protection.

 

Some Republicans in Congress have rushed to defend Trump's decision to oust Linick.

 

In an interview on CNN's "State of the Union," Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson said he felt "not all inspector generals are created equal" and noted they "serve at the pleasure of the president."

 

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Doina Chiacu; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Scott Malone, Nick Zieminski and Daniel Wallis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-05-18

 

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[Boon Mee]

50 minutes ago, TopDeadSenter said:

If you are never held accountable for your actions, why bother learning anything?

Pelosi is as out of touch as Joe Biden. 

Do the Democrats have anyone with a smidgen of cognitive abilities? 

[rabas]

Pelosi says ...

 

Carries the weight of vacuum.

 

[metisdead]

Some posts trolling about Nancy Pelosi's drinking habits have been removed.

 

An off topic post about the impeachment farce has been removed. 

[Tippaporn]

Pelosi . . . one of the deep staters looking to save herself.  A pity she won't be able to eat her beloved ice cream in prison.

[Emdog]

Typical hogwash from Trump backers. 4 IGs been fired by Trump. What for? Doing their job of ensuring laws and rules are followed.

[Sujo]

2 hours ago, TopDeadSenter said:

If you are never held accountable for your actions, why bother learning anything?

Oh the irony

[kamahele]

1 hour ago, Tippaporn said:

Pelosi . . . one of the deep staters looking to save herself.  A pity she won't be able to eat her beloved ice cream in prison.

I'm assuming this is humor 

[Eric Loh]

Go for it Nancy. There are legal precedents that the courts have ruled and deemed the removal violate the law. Humphrey's executive vs United State (1935), Wiener vs United States (1958) and Nader vs Bork (1973). Trump is doing this for political reason and should be taken to task. 

[Srikcir]

2 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Pelosi is as out of touch as Joe Biden. 

Do the Democrats have anyone with a smidgen of cognitive abilities? 

Compared to Trump only a smidgen is required.

[Rimmer]

An off topic troll post and a reply have been removed

[Isaan sailor]

Poor Nancy, she just doesn’t get it.  Her 1800-page next stimulus bill has money for mail-in voting, and stimulus checks for illegal aliens.  And the fired AG?  A holdover from the Obama regime.

Edited May 18, 2020 by Isaan sailor

[Sujo]

Absolutely nothing wrong, not even worth looking at. Its perfectly normal for an investigator to be fired at the request of the person he is investigating.

 

Thats trump world.

[Mama Noodle]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

Pelosi said on CNN's "State of the Union."

 

Which should mean immediate disregard from any objective person. The crypt keeper is one of the biggest and most vicious partisan hacks the USA has ever produced and any person taking her word at face value is just as partisan as Pelosi herself. 

[Mama Noodle]

24 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Wiener

 

hehe

[Sujo]

7 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

Which should mean immediate disregard from any objective person. The crypt keeper is one of the biggest and most vicious partisan hacks the USA has ever produced and any person taking her word at face value is just as partisan as Pelosi herself. 

Ever heard of trump?

[Eric Loh]

9 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

 

hehe

Seeing your interest in Wiener, below an extract from the Encyclopedia.com. Trump is again dicing perilously in another legal quagmire of his own doing. 

 

Two decades later, after President Dwight Eisenhower dismissed Myron Wiener from the War Claims Commission, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the legal limits to the president's removal powers. Though the legislation establishing the commission never stated when, or for what causes, members might be removed, the Court surmised that Congress did not intend commissioners to have to decide war claims while fearing "the Damocles' sword of removal by the President for no reason other than that he preferred to have … men of his own choosing." In Wiener v. United States (1958) the Court once again ruled against a president who tried to exercise his removal powers for expressly political purposes.

[AgMech Cowboy]

If it wasn't unlawful before, she'll make it unlawful and pre-date the act. Afterall, she has all the proxy votes.

[Eric Loh]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

White House adviser Peter Navarro, meanwhile, downplayed the firing, saying that what Trump terms the "deep state" has caused problems and those who are not loyal must go.

Peter Navarro in his usual cavalier style admitted the firing has nothing to do with IG Steve Linick’s performance and he was fired for not being Trump’s water boy. What an idiot!

[727Sky]

3 hours ago, Emdog said:

Typical hogwash from Trump backers. 4 IGs been fired by Trump. What for? Doing their job of ensuring laws and rules are followed.

No they were fired because they were Obama hold overs and after 3+ years there was no faith in their political leanings or the job they were supposed to be doing. He should have fired them a couple of years ago IMO just as Obama fired almost two hundred generals in the armed services for not backing his Libyan and Syrian plans .

[simple1]

52 minutes ago, 727Sky said:

SNIP

53 minutes ago, 727Sky said:

No they were fired because they were Obama hold overs and after 3+ years there was no faith in their political leanings or the job they were supposed to be doing. He should have fired them a couple of years ago IMO just as Obama fired almost two hundred generals in the armed services for not backing his Libyan and Syrian plans .

.

What decisions were made by IG's that were influenced by their political leanings, or are you just echoing trump's propaganda? Obama must have been extremely busy to fire 200 generals in the Armed forces over policy disagreements.

[SOTIRIOS]

...since when does POTUS need permission to fire whichever staff member he sees unfit for his operations...in this case, another traitorous shill from a past administration...

[ThailandRyan]

7 hours ago, Tippaporn said:

Pelosi . . . one of the deep staters looking to save herself.  A pity she won't be able to eat her beloved ice cream in prison.

Say it isn't so, No Sub Zero refrigerator freezers allowed, really.  Those prisons think of everything....

[spidermike007]

Trump is known the world over, for being the opposite of a law and order president. He flouts the law at every opportunity, and likely dreams of having the unlimited power of a Putin, Xi, Kim, or MBS. And he has the most peculiar relationship with truth, so of course he would have an abhorrence with a whistleblower. Truth is not truth, remember?

[Aland]

7 hours ago, Emdog said:

Typical hogwash from Trump backers. 4 IGs been fired by Trump. What for? Doing their job of ensuring laws and rules are followed.

This last clown was investigating Mike Pompeo for having his assistant make dinner reservations. I kid you not, that’s all he had? What law and or rules were not followed here? If that’s all he had to do with his work time then he really wasn’t necessary and needed to go.

[simple1]

39 minutes ago, Aland said:

This last clown was investigating Mike Pompeo for having his assistant make dinner reservations. I kid you not, that’s all he had? What law and or rules were not followed here? If that’s all he had to do with his work time then he really wasn’t necessary and needed to go.

It's called abuse of power against an employee. In the corporate world I worked in, he would have likely been immediately fired / forced to resign.

[pineapple01]

If the  Farmers n Truck Drivers like Trump thats all i want to know about US Politics.

[2 is 1]

58 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Trump is known the world over, for being the opposite of a law and order president. He flouts the law at every opportunity, and likely dreams of having the unlimited power of a Putin, Xi, Kim, or MBS. And he has the most peculiar relationship with truth, so of course he would have an abhorrence with a whistleblower. Truth is not truth, remember?

Yes he see many nice dreams, problem is hes day dreaming 100 % of hes awake time! If he never awake! Can think about  hes speech, nobody who is aweke can't speak so much BS and believe own fairy tales!

[Eric Loh]

1 hour ago, Aland said:

This last clown was investigating Mike Pompeo for having his assistant make dinner reservations. I kid you not, that’s all he had? What law and or rules were not followed here? If that’s all he had to do with his work time then he really wasn’t necessary and needed to go.

Using tax funded security detail and improper use of government resources to take Pompeo's dog from the groomer and collect his Chinese food among other personal errands. He should follow his colleague Tom Price and resign in shame.   

[Baerboxer]

10 hours ago, Boon Mee said:

Pelosi is as out of touch as Joe Biden. 

Do the Democrats have anyone with a smidgen of cognitive abilities? 

 

er, Schiff, Schummer, Omar, Warren - 555555!