Senior staff reportedly “blocked” the employee from addressing him internally.
A recently filed whistleblower complaint by a State Department employee alleges “questionable activities” by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the efforts of the department’s top leadership to block questions about it and direct staff to continue activities not identified.
The complaint is heavily worded, with few details about the allegations, but it is the latest indication that there are internal concerns about the behavior of the top American diplomat, two months after the department’s inspector general was fired.
Pompeo has rejected similar reports before, asking questions about his involvement in politics before a trip to Iowa last week, where he met with conservative social leaders and local politicians in the key battlefield state.
According to the complaint, the complainant said that they “directly” observed the activity, along with other staff members who “tried on several occasions to obtain clarification and guidance from the senior managers of S / ES (the secretary’s executive secretariat) and the Office of Legal Affairs Advisors, but were blocked from doing so. “
The activity took place in Washington, DC; New York, Florida, and possibly elsewhere in the United States; and abroad, the complaint said. Only one complaint is not drawn up: “false or misleading statements,” although it is unclear who the charge is brought against.
While the department’s high-level figures “were repeatedly informed of these concerns,” the complainant told the Office of the Inspector General, who registered the complaint, “none of them took steps to resolve the problems, and several of them specifically targeting subordinates the staff will continue to facilitate questionable activities after concerns have been raised. ”
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Pompeo had President Donald Trump fire department inspector general Steve Linick in May, then cited concerns about him or his office being leaked to the press, a charge Linick denied in testimony before Congress.
At the time, the OIG was investigating Pompeo’s role in using an emergency authority to bypass Congress and sell Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates $ 8 billion in weapons and their use of personnel to run personal errands for he and his wife.
Pompeo has denied that Linick’s firing was in retaliation, initially saying he was unaware of any investigation and then while answering questions about the arms sale investigation, he was unaware of the full scope.
“Someone was walking my dog to sell guns to my dry cleaner. I mean, everything is crazy,” he said in May.
It is unclear whether those two probes are related to the behavior described in the complaint, which was launched at the left-wing watchdog group American Oversight as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
At least some of the information being drafted is due to an ongoing investigation, according to a letter from the OIG’s acting attorney to American Oversight.
Pompeo’s tenure has come under increased scrutiny in recent months, especially after Linick’s firing, and focused on his own political future.
While he long denied that he was running for a Senate seat from Kansas, four trips to his adoptive home state last year fueled speculation. Senator Bob Menéndez, DN.J., even requested an investigation into the travel, which later cleared Pompeo because he finally never ran.
But Pompeo has been more open about his presidential ambitions, and some critics have accused him of using meetings on overseas trips or dinners in the department so that the rich and powerful lay the foundation for a career in the White House.
During a visit to Iowa, which holds the first national contest for each party’s candidate, Pompeo met behind closed doors with “Iowa business leaders”, “local leaders”, “elected officials” and “members of the Agricultural Bureau of Iowa “according to its public hours.
He, his wife Susan, and son Nick also attended the Family Leadership Summit, a gathering of social conservatives influencing the Republican Party, where Pompeo attacked “troublemakers” by shooting down statues and mayors who do not keep Americans safe.
When asked about the political nature of that visit two days earlier, Pompeo told “The Hill” that he wanted to visit “the heart of the United States.”
“All Americans should listen to the United States Secretary of State about our foreign policy, about our trade policies that greatly affect the people of Iowa,” he added, without addressing the moderator’s question about a 2024 presidential campaign.
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