Sen. Schumer Says Republicans Need to Speak Up on IG's Firing

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., says Republicans need to speak up after President Donald Trump fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick.

"Is a mild rebuke the most my Republican colleagues can muster?" Schumer said on the Senate floor. "A tweet, concerned statements? This isn't the first time President Trump has fired an IG and failed to provide a sufficient explanation. So what are my Republican colleagues going to do about it? Nothing, it seems, nothing.

"They are so afraid of President Trump, they so cling to almost his ankles that when they know he is doing wrong, when they know he is hiding the truth, they're afraid to say anything. They shudder. I've never seen anything like it," he added.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told The Washington Post on Monday he asked Trump to fire Linick because he was "undermining" the department and was not performing in a way  the top diplomat wanted him to.

"I went to the president and made clear to him that Inspector General Linick wasn't performing a function in a way that we had tried to get him to, that was additive for the State Department, very consistent with what the statute says he's supposed to be doing," he told the Post in his first public comments on the matter. "The kinds of activities he's supposed to undertake to make us better, to improve us."

Linick was looking into Pompeo's decision to fast-track an $8 billion arms sale to Saudi Arabia.

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