House Democrats subpoena top Pompeo aides in probe of inspector general firing
03 August 2020
The Democratic chairs of the House Oversight and House Foreign Affairs committees announced subpoenas Monday for four State Department officials as part of their investigation into the firing of former Inspector General Steve Linick.
Why it matters: The two committees, in addition to Democrats on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are investigating whether Linick was fired because he was probing Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the State Department's attempts to bypass Congress to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Details: The subpoenas seek to compel depositions from Under Secretary Brian Bulatao, Legal Adviser Marik String, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs Michael Miller, and senior adviser Toni Porter.
The big picture: Linick told Congress in June he was conducting five investigations into Pompeo and the State Department before he was fired by Trump at Pompeo's recommendation.
- Linick testified that Bulatao, a longtime aide to Pompeo, "tried to bully" him into dropping his investigation into the arms sales.
- Linick was also probing allegations of misuse of staff by Pompeo — an investigation that Pompeo claims he was unaware of.
The other side: Pompeo has said Linick"wasn’t performing a function in a way that we had tried to get him to" and has asked for an investigation into Linick and a "disturbing pattern of leaks." He has denied wrongdoing.
What they're saying: House Foreign Affairs chair Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), House Oversight chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) revealed that former State Department official Charles Faulkner voluntarily testified about Linick's removal on June 24.
- “Mr. Faulkner’s testimony depicts a small group of senior State Department officials determined to ignore legitimate humanitarian concerns among their ranks and on Capitol Hill in order to ram through more than $8 billion in arms sales to Gulf countries," the chairs wrote in a press release.
- "Mr. Faulkner testified that Congress had “legitimate” concerns when it was holding up these sales on humanitarian grounds and that State Department officials weren’t surprised by the Saudis’ reckless use of U.S.-built weapons and the resulting loss of innocent life."
- "Nevertheless, the Department’s senior leadership appeared determined to see the sales go forward."
Go deeper: Pompeo says he wasn't aware ousted inspector general was investigating him
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.