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I see that we have a quorum and i now recognize myself for opening remarks, let me welcome or witnesses as i let the Ranking Member know, ill be going considerably longer than the customary five minutes by my this morning and ill yield to the same amount ofn tie that i consume. Go overo have a lot to before we hear from our witnesses. On the evening ofsi may 15, friday, president notified g Speaker Pelosi as the state Department Inspector general steve linick, the law requires 30 day notice to fire an ig but mr. Lennix last day was technically june 14. The president and the secretary violated the spirit of the law by immediately placing him on leave and locking him out of his office and his email. In the days of follow both the president and secretary pompeo wede clear that the firing came of mr. Pompeo was urgent. I predict today we may hear the refrain repeated that the president has the power to fire and Inspector General whenever he wants to so long as he provides the reasons for the firing to congress. No one is doubting that i dont think in the last four months i have heard anyone say otherwise. The president has that power. But we seen again and again, in the last four years president shows very little reluctance to abuses power. When mr. Linick was removed, the president had been under a firing spree of Inspector General, the executive branch independent watchdog who helped provide accountability and transparency in our government. With that in mind and the need of information to provide to the committee that mr. Linick firing may have been retaliatory in nature, again, something that would represent an abuse of power, the committee launched an investigation into mr. Linick removal and long with oversight reform, the Senate ForeignRelations Committee minority office. While the state department has refused today to produce any oft the record records and we requed related to the firing witnesses have come forward and give us good detail in context. Reports in the press have shared more light on the matter. Heres what we know, mr. Lynn expiring was not as per of the moment decision while mr. Linick was told on may 15 that he was being pushed out his temporary replacement steve acord hegarty been lined up for a month or more in his affidavit to the committee he said mr. Contacted him on april 9 or april 15 saying that mr. Linick was imminent and asking him if he would assume that id responsibility on acting basis. Over the next few weeks mr. Villano in accord spokeas several times included on may 14 and may 16th with mr. Linick removal going forward. We know that the time mr. Linick was fired in his office was conducting two investigations involving secretary pompeos conduct. The first was allegations ofta e secretary misuse Government Resources for their own personal benefit. According to mr. Linick testimony, his team reached out for the office of o the secretay requesting documents in late 2019. Mr. Linick said that at the same timeed and he spoke to other senior officials to let them know he was seeking information in his words his aim was to not surprise the seventh floor, meaning the Department Leadership with news of his probe. Mr. Linick said his office i context eight department executives, secretary lisa about the matter as well. Indeed lisa in her interview with the committee testified in march this year that yg requested documents related to the pompeo travel. Like mr. Winick the Senior Department officials again among the mr. Villano and also mr. Strain. Ms. Ken also stated that every time there is an invitation to mrs. Pompeo that involves travel i get into the undersecretary for management and he makes the determination. The secretaryl, management the. Ms. Ken authorizes to search for the documents but mr. Linick was far before they were turned over to the id. The documents were only sent after ambassador had taken over the igs office. We presume the orgies work on the matter ongoing so we dont know all the details and reports have also alleged that secretary mrs. Pompeo use Government Employees to handle personal errands. Me ms. Tony porter advisor to the secretary, told us an interview the secretary mrs. Pompeo who is not a state Department Employee also had ms. Porter work on it special interest to the secretary which includes making dinner reservations and helping with the pompeos personal christmas card. According to the email traffic including mrs. Pompeo, mrs. Porter and ms. Kenna indicating ms. Pompeo ms. Kenna both understood in assignment to ms. Porter to be of a personal nature to keep the tight circle of Government Employees who worked on these matters, the committee has a large number of complaints to the oig hotline that the secretary mrs. Pompeo were misusing the Department Resources with unofficial matters. This alleged misuse of resources is not just a personal aaron it seems to be focused on the appeal political future. Specifically question a madison dinner a series of dinners the pompeos have posted from the state department on the eighth floor, mr. Porter testified that if pompeo conceived as a way to expand the understanding of state department work. The only problem with explanation is extensive planning and from the state department attending them. The secretary is only department officialin who attends the dinns and no senior diplomats or experts and none of the people on a daytoday basis carry out state department work. Just as secretary of token foreign dignitary requirement in the state department to pay for the dinner and a dozen or so guest picked by the pompeos nearly all republican officials were people tied somehow directly in politics, money orr media. This testimony suggest that the foreign dignity was about the exercise, the Protocol Office with some at times a swapout dignitary for another although the pompeos kept a tight grip on the political side on the guest list, mr. Porter also stated the pompeos began to host the dinners with the daytoday to keep track of all the people and invited the email addresses, mailing addresses, mr. Porter worked for the pompeos for decades involves planning the former congressmans fundraisers and Quality Management tool. While its understandable that the state departmentg Protocol Team to keep track of who was invited to an official event, mrs. Pompeo also had the list sent to her private email address according to mrs. Porter. System thoughtal something more like a political contact tool. These were reportedly paid for out of the state department socalled k fund which can be used for confidential requirements in a foreign affair as well as other authorized activities which further the realization of u. S. Foreign policy objective. This is overseen undersecretary villano. I asked my staff to review the most recent classified reports to congress which was sent a package with classified material and held. That raised an eyebrow to among people who understand state department budget. The pompeos have reportedly hosted about 20 of these dinners and after a hiatus brought on by the covid pandemic they restarted on monday the three more reported in the next few weeks. The Second Department may 2019 use with any emergency provision of the arms expert control act posted more than a billion dollars in arms sales to both countries, the oig finished its work on the matter and reported lastst month. [silence] theres a lot to unpack and its important that we lay it all out. In march of 2015, they launched intervention into the civil war in yemen aimed at countering their rating and back forces that seize control of humans capital. The Obama Administration initially supported the effort with the Logistical Support of partners in the goal state is very Real Security challenges that threaten freedom of navigation in u. S. Troops stationed in the middle east. Over time, it became increasingly clear that the saudis were acting recklessly in the way they were carrying out the campaign with u. S. Weapons. Civilian casualties amounted, humanitarian crisis began burning out of control, the Obama Administration pushed forward on the sale of american weapons to the saudis and their partners. The President Trump took office in early priority of his administration to get the flow of weapons going again and concerned about civilian casualties has not gone away and both sides of the aisle, myself included began putting holds on sales of the most lethal weapons using this war. Most notably sel notified in april 2018 for 120,000 with decision guided, sometimes called smart bombs, Congress Passed legislation requiring the certification of the administration that the saudis were taken adequate steps to reduce the civilian casualties, on august 9, 2018 the saudis Left Coalition blew up the school bus killing more than 25 children and injuring scores more just over a month later, secretary pompeo certified to congress that the saudi and they were undertaking action to reduce the risk of civilians. Congress did not buy it in the hold on the weapon sales remain in place for nearly nine more months of the carnage went on in yemen. They fought until last december and is told us in his interview the congress is concerned about civilian casualties being legitimate. He said many state to permit officials shared the same concerns. How could you not, weer seen all the images, collapsed buildings, mangled bodies, starving children. We in congress challenge administration to provide assurance that the u. S. Weapons would not be used to kill civilians or destroy civilian infrastructure but secretary pompeo wanted a differently forwards after all mr. Faulkner told us they had lots of weapon sales was a major party in the white house. Mr. Pompeo had to be broken in april 2019 and mr. String told mr. Faulkner he told a way to do it, tell the world the sky was falling. Under the arms of the control act and the administration can bypass the normal congressional approval process by declaring an emergency. Mr. Faulkner testified that he was worried about what impact such an action would have on the departments relation of capitol hill. After all senator menendez is in my concern about the civilian casualty had not diminished, nevertheless on may 24, 2019 the state department notified congress that the administration was declaring an emergency and therefore moving forward with 22 arms sales and packages mostly saudi arabia and the uae. As i noticed earlier, the emergency provision exist and will law in the executive branch of the power to invoke their authority. To my knowledge, no one has dsuggested otherwise despite soe of the things that weti heard fm the state department but the question since last may n has bn a secretary pompeo abuse the power when he declared an emergency it was the emergency phony in the pretext of congressional oversight. Those questions are members of this committee in june of last you to look into that decision, the findings of that probe are eyeopening, the oig found consistent with what i just said that the Emergency Declaration did not violate the letter of the law, thats because congres did not define the term emergency. Leaving it up to aon normal Administration Common sense but explicitlyo stated that it did not assess whether there was a real emergency underline that declaration. Frankly they did not need to make that assessment, the facts speak for themselves. Excuse me. The unclassified portion of the report lays out a timeline for the Emergency Declaration in mrt took nearly two months april 3 may 29 aprimay 29, 2019 to makey through the state department seven weeks. In the 30 day congressional review. Under the normal notification process codified in the law. The board also tells usw underneath reactions that the department insisted the oig slap on top released to the public that mr. Pompeo determined on may 4 that he wanted to send the Emergency Notification to congress no later than may 24. An emergency that you can plan for seven weeks in advance is not an emergency, as far as im concerned especially when the regular process wouldve taken less time, i have to note that mr. Cooper testified before this Committee Last year that the emergency required extraordinary action in that may 23, 2019 when mr. Pompeo briefed congress in may 24, 2019 when the declaration was transmitted to us, that testimony was full. The photo indicates that most of the armed packages have not been delivered yet and likely wont be during the calendar year. Again what kind of work time emergency can be addressed that weapons arrived two years later and the answer is obviously none. There was no emergency, Ranking Member mccall and i offered an amendment to last years ndaa that was better to find the word emergency, in my view the department pulled together to get around congress is a secondary threat. Yes i believe it was an abuse of power and affront to our system of checks and balances, i believe the department made false representation to this committee but what is is really about, many of us here in congress sold the situation on the ground in yemen and said enough, we thought that before we shift instruments of death oversee an adequate proportion should be in place to ensure those instruments were not being used to Blowup School buses or funeral procession, we did not want the United States to be slaughtering innocence, Mike Pompeo State Department did not see it thated way. His viewers summed up in a sentence from the oig report and i quote, oig found the department and fully assessed risk to implement litigation records for casualty and concerns associated with the transfer ofig pdm including in e secretaries may 2019 emergency certification. Did not assess the risk, did not try to reduce civilian casualties, did not deal with legal concern, this is not describing the saudis or a riot, is describing her own state department under the Trump Administration and under mike pompeo. Think about the funding and the brighter context that i laid out, ask yourself why did they not do those things. Was it an oversight . In the mad rush to get weapons out the door after mr. Pompeo made the Emergency Declaration, did those questions fall by thea wayside, the answer is of course not, the emergency was declared specifically so the state department could avoid answering those questions, how did we know that, those of the precise questions congress was already asking, thats why we held up the arms sales, what are the risks, what are we doing toel reduce civilian death. This is a deeply damning report, now that we seen at the findings of our own investigation into the id firing make more sense, mainly the state Department Officials have been trying for months to suppress the findings, and his testimony mineral enter mr. Linick said mr. Bilotta mr. String attempted toin bullyg him saying the oig should not look into thissa matter. It was a policy decision outside the oig purview, of course its an entirely legitimate for 90 to examine policy implementation for mr. Linick testimony mr. Bilotta seem not to understand the role of independent id. As also quite noteworthy that secretary pompeo refused to be interviewed for the oig review, mr. Linick stated last year, he approached mr. Bilotta, mr. String and deputy secretary vegan about scheduling the interview,. Secretaries team sad they conduct the interview personally and mr. Linick told mr. String that he was amenable to the idea so long as one other member of the oig staff could be present as a witness, the secretary team apparently ignoreden the request and said o mr. Pompeo he was never interviewed by mr. Linick, instead he provided the oig with a written statement that it had never requested, when the pandemic hit in march and the oig was wrapping up its work on this matter mr. Linette considered the issue unresolved and hope to find some time in the future to express the interview to the secretary which he continued to discuss with mrn accommodation mr. Linick was fired and everything mr. Linick said suggested that he considered anat interview with t piece of unfinished business. Mr. Linick temporary replacement mr. Amo akard that he was partr interested in the report according to akard affidavit during his first two weeks on the job both deputy secretary vegan and mr. Bulatao called him expressing mr. Pompeos arms sales would be done. Akard recused himself in the process and from the probe into the misuse of resources, that was sent to mr. Akard in addition to Services ActingInspector General. He retained his role in the state department as the director of the office of foreign missions. In which he s rea reported to mr. Bulatao when secretary pompeo, its easy to see how this would affect his work. Akard began an investigation i