Mike Pompeo was in sights of sacked watchdog Steve Linick

Democrats have launched an investigation into Donald Trump’s decision to fire the State Department’s inspector-general.

Steve Linick testifies to congress in 2016. Picture: AFP

Congressional Democrats have launched an investigation into US President Donald Trump’s decision to fire the State Department’s inspector-general, alleging the internal watchdog had been conducting a probe of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ­before he was ousted.

House of Representatives foreign affairs committee chairman Eliot Engel and Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, said on Sunday (AEST) they were seeking documents from the White House, State Department, and the ­inspector-general’s office.

Mr Engel said on Saturday that inspector-general Steve Linick had opened a probe into Mr Pompeo. According to a Democrat aide, the watchdog’s office had been looking into allegations that Mr Pompeo misused a political appointee at the department to perform personal tasks for himself and his wife.

“Such an action, transparently designed to protect Secretary Pompeo from personal accountability, would undermine the foundation of our democratic institutions and may be an illegal act of retaliation,” Mr Engel and Senator Menendez said on Sunday.

Leslie Shedd, spokeswoman for the house foreign affairs committee Republicans, said that they, too, were looking into the matter. “The State Department inspector-general performs essential oversight of the department, so it raises questions when one is removed,” she said.

A White House official said Mr Pompeo recommended removing Mr Linick and Mr Trump agreed.

In a letter to congressional ­officials on Saturday, Mr Trump said he was removing the inspector-general in 30 days because he no longer had confidence in him. Mr Linick wasn’t named in Mr Trump’s letter, but a State Department official confirmed that he had been fired.

The official said Stephen Akard, a former career foreign service officer, will assume the duties of inspector-general. Mr Akard once served as a foreign affairs adviser to Vice-President Mike Pence during his term as Indiana governor.

Mr Linick’s office last year was critical of State Department management practices, charging in a report that high-ranking ­department officials berated ­career employees over their political views, questioned their loyalty and retaliated against some of them.

The report described “leadership and management deficiencies” by some top officials.

Mr Linick also had issued ­reports critical of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and had drawn scrutiny from Democrats for doing so. An inspector-general’s office report during Mrs Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2016 faulted her use of a private email server and her record-keeping, saying some of those practices violated the ­department’s policies. Mrs Clinton said that her use of the private server was permitted at the time.

Mr Linick’s spokesman said at the time that his office “operates as an independent organisation, consistent with the law”.

Mr Trump’s decision to fire Mr Linick drew quick criticism from other Democrat leaders.

“The President’s late-night, weekend firing of the State ­Department inspector-general has accelerated his dangerous pattern of retaliation against the patriotic public servants charged with conducting oversight on ­behalf of the American people,” said House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Last month, Mr Trump ­replaced the Pentagon’s acting inspector-general, Glenn Fine, who had been charged with heading a team monitoring the $US2 trillion pandemic stimulus law, days after firing Michael ­Atkinson, the inspector-general of the intelligence community.

The Wall Street Journal