President Trump’s selected Acting Inspector General has resigned

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US President Donald Trump has replaced his own selected internal US State Department watchdog Stephen James Akard and he has now resigned. It marked the latest turmoil at the office that was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Akard took over the office of inspector general at the State Department in an acting capacity in May after the president fired former IG Steve Linick. He had been probing the details of a US-Saudi arms deal and allegations that Pompeo was abusing the power of his office for political gain and to keep his household orderly. The Washington Post reported and said, “Ambassador Stephen J. Akard (the State Department’s Acting Inspector General and the Director of the Office of Foreign Missions) has announced he is returning to the private sector after years of public service”.

Point to be noted that Akard was an American diplomat who was the United States director of the Office of Foreign Missions, a division of the Department of State until May 2020. US State Department issued a statement and said, “We appreciate his dedication to the Department and to our country. The Deputy Inspector General, Diana R. Shaw, will become the new Acting Inspector General”. Trump has previously said Pompeo had asked him to fire Linick in May 2020, though the secretary has denied in testimony before Congress. Pompeo informed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a budget hearing last week and said, “Linick’s ongoing investigation into his conduct was a factor in his decision to oust him. Linick rejected to take care of his team in important ways”.

The US House Democrats are not so sure. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel subpoenaed 4 of Pompeo’s senior aides at the State Department after they allegedly dodging questions in previous interviews about Linick’s firing. On Tuesday, the House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney and Democratic Senator Bob Menendez issued a joint statement and said, “The Administration continues to cover up the real reasons for Linick’s firing by stonewalling the Committees’ investigation and refusing to engage in good faith. That stonewalling has made today’s subpoenas necessary”. Linick was one in a string of high-profile inspectors general whom Trump has fired this year. It caused consternation among Democrats that the president is intentionally eroding institutional checks on his own administration.