The plot thickened in the firing of a State Department inspector general last week, and new reporting raised alarm into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's activity.
The department's inspector general Steve Linick was investigating whether Pompeo had ordered a government employee to perform mundane chores -- such as dog walking -- for his personal benefit, but new reporting from the Washington Post shows that he was also "investigating use of emergency declaration last year to sell arms to Saudis over the objections of Congress.
"I have learned that there may be another reason for Mr. Linick's firing. His office was investigating—at my request—Trump's phony declaration of an emergency so he could send weapons to Saudi Arabia. We don't have the full picture yet, but it's troubling that Secretary Pompeo wanted Mr. Linick pushed out before this work could be completed," Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Rep. Eliot Engel told CNN.
The news set off a firestorm of criticism.