WASHINGTON _ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo decried leaks to the media about internal investigations into his office on Wednesday, calling allegations that the department's inspector general was fired in retaliation for his inquiries "patently false."
Pompeo, holding his first news conference since President Donald Trump terminated the department's ethics watchdog, Steve Linick, said the president did so at his recommendation, adding that he "frankly should have done it some time ago." But the nation's top diplomat bristled at more specific questions regarding the reason for Linick's firing.
Linick had been conducting two investigations that were potentially damaging to Pompeo. One centered on the Trump administration's decision to expedite arms sales to Saudi Arabia, according to New York Rep. Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The other involved questions over whether one of Pompeo's aides, a staffer who had worked for him during his time as a Kansas congressman, had conducted personal business on State Department time.
Pompeo conflated the two investigations as he bitterly rejected the idea that the inspector general's firing was in retaliation for the investigations, which were ongoing at the time of Linick's ouster.
"That's patently false. I have no sense of what investigations were taking place inside the inspector general's office. Couldn't have possibly retaliated for all the things _ I've seen the various stories, that someone was walking my dog to sell arms to my dry cleaner," Pompeo said. "I mean, it's all just crazy. It's all crazy stuff."
The State Department has not commented on whether Linick was investigating tasks performed by Toni Porter, who had served as Pompeo's Wichita-based district director during his tenure in the U.S. House before joining him at the CIA and State Department.
The Kansas City Star first reported Porter's identity on Tuesday, which was independently confirmed by NBC News later that evening.
"Unlike others, I don't talk about personnel matters. I don't leak to y'all," Pompeo said.
Pompeo then took aim at New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and one of the first lawmakers to raise concerns about Linick's firing.
"I don't get my ethics guidance from a man who was criminally prosecuted," Pompeo said.
Menendez was indicted by the Justice Department in 2015 on bribery and fraud charges based on allegations that he had pressured Dominican Republic into enforcing a port security contract that would benefit one of his donors.
A federal judge dismissed all charges in 2018 at the request of federal prosecutors after Menendez's first trial ended in a hung jury.
Menendez dismissed the personal attack as attempt to dodge questions about Linick's firing.
"The facts speak for themselves. The President, at Secretary Pompeo's request, fired the State Department's Inspector General for no apparent reason at the same time the Inspector General was investigating the Secretary. Secretary Pompeo now faces an investigation into both this improper firing and into his attempt to cover up his inappropriate and possibly illegal actions," Menendez said.
"Not surprisingly, he has lashed out at me and others conducting Congressional oversight. The fact that Secretary Pompeo is now trying diversion tactics by attempting to smear me is as predictable as it is shameful. The Secretary should focus on answering questions and getting his story straight as to why he wanted to target IG Linick."
Pompeo did not respond to reporters' questions about Engel, the House Democrat who has also been a leading critic of the decision to oust Linick and is leading a House investigation into the matter.
