Political Quotes

“I previously notified the Chamber of my objection to the nominations of Marshall Billingslea, of Virginia, to be Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security and Christopher C. Miller, of Virginia, to be Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Office of the Director of National Intelligence. On June 12, 2020, I received two letters: one from the Department of State, which contained a copy of recent correspondence between the administration to the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, CIGIE, requesting that CIGIE investigate specific allegations into the conduct of the State Department Inspector General, State IG, Steve Linick, and another separate letter from the White House Counsel concerning the removal of Intelligence Community Inspector General, IC IG, Michael Atkinson. Without making comment regarding the veracity of the allegations made against Mr. Linick, I believe that these letters fulfill the President's requirement to provide Congress reasons for the removal of the IC IG and the State IG, as required by the Inspector General Reform Act. It is for this reason that I withdraw my objection to both Mr. Billingslea and Mr. Miller. The letter from the White House Counsel regarding the removal of the IC IG repeats a previous letter from the White House which stated that the President had lost confidence in the IC IG.…”