WASHINGTON — President Trump continued his purge of inspectors common late Friday, transferring to oust Steve A. Linick, who had served in that put
WASHINGTON — President Trump continued his purge of inspectors common late Friday, transferring to oust Steve A. Linick, who had served in that put up on the State Division since 2013, and changing him with an envoy with shut ties to Vice President Mike Pence.
Mr. Linick, who was named to guide the workplace of the inspector common on the State Division by President Barack Obama, shall be changed by Ambassador Stephen J. Akard, the director of the Office of Foreign Missions, the State Department said in a statement on Friday night.
In a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and obtained by The New York Times, Mr. Trump wrote that “it is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as Inspectors General.”
“That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General,” the president added.
The decision to remove Mr. Linick is the latest in a purge of inspectors general whom Mr. Trump deems insufficiently loyal to his administration, upending the traditional independence of the internal watchdog agencies whose missions are to conduct oversight of the nation’s sprawling bureaucracy.
The removals of the inspectors general — and their replacement with allies of the president — are part of an aggressive move by Mr. Trump and his top aides to move against what he considers to be “deep state” officials throughout many of the key agencies who he believes are opposed to his agenda.
Michael D. Shear reported from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York. Edward Wong and Catie Edmondson contributed reporting from Washington.