The Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been trying to get Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to testify about his department’s annual budget for nearly a handful of months. But securing Pompeo’s testimony took on even greater significance after allegations recently surfaced that the department’s longtime inspector general had been axed by Donald Trump amid a probe he was conducting into potential Pompeo malfeasance. In fact, Trump himself made it crystal clear that he had fired department watchdog Steve Linick at Pompeo’s urging.
In short, Pompeo’s testimony would have provided a target-rich environment for probing allegations against the secretary of state, which included everything from misusing taxpayer funds to improperly pushing through an $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Perfect timing then for the GOP chair of the Senate Foreign Relations panel, Idaho Sen. Jim Risch, to give Pompeo a pass on testifying.
According to Politico, Risch’s staff director, Chris Socha, held a phone call last Friday with top aides to Republican members of the committee to tell them Risch was simply dropping his quest for Pompeo’s testimony. The decision was framed as an effort of preserve “political capital,” which effectively means Risch didn’t want to work too hard to actually investigate wrongdoing by Pompeo. Continue reading.