An anonymous official who said they possess detailed evidence of Mike Pompeo’s “questionable activities” as US Secretary of State was blocked from reporting those issues within the State Department, according to a newly-public whistleblower complaint.
The complaint was released during the weekend following legal challenges by the government watchdog group American Oversight, which sued the State Department in an effort to obtain access to whistleblower complaints filed against Mr Pompeo.
A heavily-redacted four-page document, the complaint accuses Mr Pompeo of engaging in concerning activities throughout Washington, in New York and Florida and overseas — all of which the whistleblower claimed to have witnessed.
“I directly witnessed much of the behaviour,” the complaint read. The anonymous official and State Department employees who “tried on several occasions to obtain clarifications and guidance from senior leadership” and “from the Office of Legal Advisors” about Mr Pompeo’s conduct were ultimately “blocked from doing so”, according to the complaint.
The State Department appeared to confirm the existence of a probe surrounding Mr Pompeo’s activities as Secretary of State following the release of the whistleblower complaint, attributing the redactions to an ongoing investigation.
It was previously reported that State Department Inspector General Steve Linick was close to finishing an investigation into Mr Pompeo and filing his report before President Donald Trump fired Mr Linick at Mr Pompeo’s request.
The Secretary of State has been accused of using State Department employees to run his personal errands, as well as bypassing Congress and approving controversial arms sales without proper government oversight.
Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight, said in a statement after the release of the whistleblower complaint: “In some ways, this is good news, because there’s some indication now that the inspector general’s office has not backed off of investigating the secretary’s conduct.”
He added: “But in other ways, there’s much we still don’t know about that conduct.”
The whistleblower complaint was released just before Mr Pompeo landed in the UK for a two-day visit to discuss everything from the international response and recovery to Covid-19, to trade relations between the two countries.
The Independent has asked the State Department for comment.
