Democrats investigating Trump firing of State Dept. watchdog

Democrats demanded on Saturday that the White House hand over all records related to President Donald Trump's latest firing of a federal watchdog, this time at the State Department, and they suggested Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was responsible, in what may be an illegal act of retaliation.

"We unalterably oppose the politically-motivated firing of inspectors general and the President's gutting of these critical positions,'' the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote in a letter to the administration announcing their investigation.

Trump announced late Friday that he was firing the inspector general, Steve Linick, an Obama administration appointee whose office was critical of what it saw as political bias in the State Department's management.

The ouster was one more move by the president against independent executive branch watchdogs who have found fault with his administration.

New York Rep. Eliot Engel and New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez sent letters to the White House, the State Department and the inspector general's office asking that administration officials preserve all records related to Linick's dismissal and provide them to the committees by this coming Friday.

They promised to look deeply into this matter" and said they would seek to interview White House officials.

They said they trust that the White House will cooperate fully with our investigation."