U.S. lawmakers link Trump's latest IG firing to Saudi arms sales probe
Source: Reuters
President Donald Trump may have fired the State Departments inspector general because he was investigating U.S. military sales to Saudi Arabia, Democratic lawmakers said on Monday as they sought to explain the latest dismissal of an official responsible for probing government misconduct.
Trump announced the planned removal of Inspector General Steve Linick in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi late on Friday. He was the fourth government inspector general that the Republican president has ousted in recent weeks.
Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, and Senator Bob Menendez, ranking member on Senate Foreign Relations, said Linick had been investigating Trumps declaration of a national emergency last year to clear the way for $8 billion in military sales, mostly to Saudi Arabia.
Engel and Menendez announced on Saturday they were launching an investigation of Linicks firing. On Monday, Engel disclosed Linicks probe into the Saudi arms sales.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-inspectorgeneral/u-s-house-chairman-alleges-saudi-arms-sale-link-to-state-ig-firing-idUSKBN22U269
Mopar151
(10,004 posts)JudyM
(29,294 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,392 posts)So, yeah, an Inspector General should be allowed to look at that shit. Yelling "national emergency" (which really meant "my good friend the murderer needs more things to kill with, and those mean American representatives have correctly decided their voters don't lick his arse the the way I do" ) should not be an excuse to do whatever the fuck you want without oversight.
I mean, that's how shit like Iran-Contra happened. Unaccountable deals with dubious foreign powers and terrorists. Both of which MBS could qualify as.
not_the_one
(2,227 posts)Trump is the BESTEST of friends with the Saudi government, who attacked us on 9-11, killing over 3,000 Americans. 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudi.
Trump recently approved a BIG, illegal sale of weapons to that same Saudi government.
Trump was being investigated because of the sale, so he fired the inspector general heading the investigation, in an effort to sidetrack any criticism of the sale.
This is the same government that murdered and dismembered an American journalist, which Trump helped to cover up.
Short, and just the tip of the iceberg, but the turd HAS to make sure the Saudi's will still let him flee to their country, when the shit hits the fan. If he went to Russia he would have to demand a "penthouse" on the 1st floor, for obvious safety issues...
oasis
(49,431 posts)the IG was let go. The American public was led to believe the whistleblower complaint was about a minor issue and Linick was dismissed because of this level of pettiness and his ties to Obama.
Looks as if we got played again.