Ousted IG Steve Linick says Mike Pompeo DID know he was investigating him for misuse of government resources when he was fired by Donald Trump - despite Secretary of State insisting he had no idea

Ousted State Department Inspector General Steve Linick has told members of three congressional committees that he was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's use of government resources before he was fired by President Trump. 

Linick, who was appointed to his position during the Obama administration, was dismissed on May 15. He is the fourth government watchdog fired by Trump in recent months. 

Linick told the three House and Senate committees on Wednesday that he was also looking into Pompeo's decision to approve a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia. 

Democrats are investigating President Donald Trump's firing of Linick and whether it was a retaliatory move.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Carolyn Maloney and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez said in a joint statement with other lawmakers that they still have many unanswered questions about the firing. 

'Mr. Linick confirmed [to us] that at the time he was removed as IG, his office was looking into two matters that directly touched on Secretary Pompeo's conduct and that senior State Department officials were aware of his investigations,' the Democrats' statement said. 

They revealed that Linick had confirmed there was an ongoing investigation into 'allegations of misuse of government resources by Secretary Pompeo and his wife, Susan'. 

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Ousted State Department Inspector General Steve Linick has told members of three congressional committees that he was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's use of government resources before he was fired by the President last month  

Linick  told the committees that he had informed officials close to Pompeo of the investigation, including by requesting documents from his executive secretary. 

Pompeo, though, told reporters after Linick was fired last month that he was unaware of any investigation into allegations that he may have mistreated staffers by instructing them to run personal errands for him and his wife - such as walking his dog and picking up dry cleaning and takeout food. Thus, Pompeo said, the move could not have been retaliatory. 

Pompeo has said he recommended that the inspector general be terminated, but insisted it wasn't retribution. He told Fox News last week that Linick's office was leaking information.  

Pompeo did acknowledge then that he was aware of the probe into his decision last year to bypass congressional objections to approve a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Saudi Arabia because he had answered written questions about it posed by Linick´s office. 

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Linick confirmed there was an ongoing investigation into 'allegations of misuse of government resources by Secretary Pompeo and his wife, Susan' (pictured) at the time he was fired 

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Pompeo, though, told reporters after Linick was fired last month that he was unaware of any investigation into allegations that he may have mistreated staffers by instructing them to run personal errands for him and his wife - such as walking his dog and picking up dry cleaning

However, he has maintained that he did not know the scope or scale of the investigation.

Linick told the committees on Wednesday that his office had requested an interview with Pompeo but that the secretary had refused. 

The Democrats said Linick testified he had been pressured by Brian Bulatao, an undersecretary of State who is an old friend of Pompeo.

'Mr. Linick testified that Mr. Bulatao pressured him to act in ways that Mr. Linick felt were inappropriate - including Bulatao telling Linick that the investigation into weapons sales to Saudi Arabia was not a matter for the IG to investigate,' the committees said.

Republicans questioned Linick on whether he had leaked information about sensitive investigations, which the administration has suggested played a part in his dismissal. 

In a letter to Engel this week, Bulato wrote that 'concern over Linick had grown' concerning the handling of an investigation that was leaked in the media and later reviewed.

The Democrats said Linick rejected that explanation, saying it was 'either misplaced or unfounded.'

In his opening statement, released before the interview and obtained by The Associated Press, Linick said he has 'served without regard to politics' in his nearly three-decade career in public service and has always been committed to independent oversight.

The investigation is part of a larger congressional effort to find out more about Trump's recent moves to sideline several independent government watchdogs. 

Engel and Menendez have been demanding answers and documents from the State Department on other matters for months, to little avail, and are now teaming up to try to force a complete explanation from Pompeo and the White House as to why Trump fired Linick.

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Linick played a small role in Trump´s impeachment last year, an involvement that has added fuel to Democratic suspicions of retaliation

Linick played a small role in Trump´s impeachment last year, an involvement that has added fuel to Democratic suspicions of retaliation. 

In October, Linick turned over documents to House investigators that he had received from a close Pompeo associate that contained information from debunked conspiracy theories about Ukraine´s role in the 2016 U.S. election. Democrats were probing Trump´s pressure on Ukraine to investigate his political opponents.

He is the second inspector general to be fired who was involved with the impeachment process. Michael Atkinson, the former inspector general for the intelligence community, triggered the impeachment probe when he alerted Congress about a whistleblower complaint that described a call between Trump and Ukraine´s president last summer. Trump fired Atkinson in April, saying he had lost confidence in him.

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The investigation into Linick's firing is part of a larger congressional effort to find out more about Trump's recent moves to sideline several independent government watchdogs