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A top State Department official has accused Steve Linick, the department’s fired inspector general, of contacting a former colleague, obtaining official documents and returning to his former office -- all in violation of the terms of his administrative leave, Fox News has learned. In a letter to Linick's attorney, obtained by Fox News, the State Department Under Secretary for Management Brian Bulatao says “in the days before his Congressional testimony, he sent a text message to the Deputy Inspector General, Diana Shaw, requesting a copy of the DOD IG report on the origins of a leak of a draft State...

The State Department inspector general whose recent dismissal ignited a political firestorm sent copies detailing a sensitive investigation to his personal email account, according to a probe into his conduct run by the Defense Department's inspector general. The inquiry report, dated March 17, confirms that fired State Department inspector general Steve Linick was the subject of a broad investigation related to the leaks of politically charged materials to journalists, specifically a draft evaluation report into Brian Hook, the State Department’s top Iran official. The report, which was provided to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, concluded that while Linick was permitted...

Sen. Chuck Grassley has moved to halt consideration on two Trump administration nominees until the White House offers more information about why it fired two inspectors general. The hold from Grassley will indefinitely block confirmation of Christopher Miller as National Counterterrorism Center director and Marshall Billingslea as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. “Congress has made it clear that should the president find reason to fire an inspector general, there ought to be a good reason for it,” said the Iowa Republican, who added that it was important Americans not “be left speculating whether political or self-interests...

A top Republican senator demanded a deeper explanation from President Trump about his removal of the State Department watchdog while criticizing the ousted inspector general over a flawed investigation into British ex-spy Christopher Steele’s dossier.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., asked on Wednesday “what the hell” Obama administration officials were doing after they purportedly requested to "unmask" the identity of former national security adviser Michael Flynn during the presidential transition period. The House Intelligence Committee ranking member asked the question on “Fox News @Night” after a list of names from that controversial process was made public on Wednesday. “It appears to me like what they were doing is a lot of them went wild after Trump won. They got poisoned with this Russia hoax,” Nunes said. “That's why you had Obama ambassadors across the globe unmasking,...

What exactly is Obama concerned with in regard to the “confidentiality interests that all presidents have sought to protect?” Former President Barack Obama has inserted himself into the Russia, Ukraine fiasco; arguably this was not the first time. While Democrats have been denying and protecting their guilt in creating and advancing the Russia Hoax, there is evidence that suggests President Obama likely was aware of the probe. Fox News has obtained a letter from the office of former President Barack Obama to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), which manages presidential records. Why would Obama, four years after leaving...

After hysterical theatrics demanding records from Brett Kavanaugh's career, Democrats haven't said a word as Biden conceals Senate records. The hypocrisy of Democrats, and their media allies, is on prominent display in their handling of sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden versus their treatment of Brett Kavanaugh. Another example of the hypocrisy relates to the demand, or lack thereof, for documents related to the official government work of the two men. Until they switched at the last minute to Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation, Democrats’ main message and procedural complaint against Kavanaugh was that they needed to review millions of public...

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley wants to know if former Special Counsel Robert Mueller had access to the newly released FBI documents on former national security adviser Michael Flynn, in which the then-counterintelligence director openly questioned if their “goal” was to “get him to lie.” “New DOJ/Flynn docs are stamped w [sic] SCO as in Special Counsels Office,” Grassley (R-Iowa) wrote on Twitter Thursday, “Did Mueller have these docs? Why did his team sit on them? What else is Mueller team that cost taxpayers $30+ million hiding? The ppl deserve answers 2restore faith in federal law enforcement agencies.” The...

Sen. Mitt Romney is among a bipartisan group of lawmakers demanding that President Donald Trump explain why he fired the intelligence community inspector general. The eight senators, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, say the explanation Trump gave for removing Michael Atkinson was insufficient and does not comply with the law. The president cited a lack of confidence in the intelligence community’s top watchdog. “Congressional intent is clear that an expression of lost confidence, without further explanation, is not sufficient to fulfill the requirements of the statute,” the senators wrote in a letter Thursday. “This is in large part because...

DES MOINES -- Following a top-secret briefing Tuesday morning, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, expressed confidence the United States is “on top of” efforts to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. That doesn’t mean the virus, which already has claimed about 2,700 lives, is contained, Grassley said during his weekly conference call with Iowa reporters. “I don’t think that I could give Americans any certainty that it couldn’t crop up in the United States like it did in Italy over last weekend or 10 days ago in South Korea, where all of a sudden, you get an explosion of it,” Grassley...

Washington (CNN)More than 200 members of Congress are urging the Supreme Court to reconsider -- if not overrule -- the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide. Thirty-nine Republican senators and 168 members of the House of Representatives, almost all of them Republicans, signed a so-called "friend of the court" brief filed on Thursday by the national anti-abortion group Americans United for Life in connection with a challenge to a Louisiana abortion access law due to be heard in March. The signers include Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Chuck Grassley of Iowa, Mike Lee and Mitt Romney...

The rate of farmer suicide has been on the rise across the United States and Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) recently introduced the Seeding Rural Resilience Act to curb it. The senators want to spread awareness about mental health on the farm. “Our bipartisan bill would empower people who are in a position to identify farmers who need help to get them help,” said Grassley in an op-ed on his website on Dec. 26. The Iowa lawmaker said farming is full of uncertainties as it is at the “mercy of Mother Nature” and leads to sleepless nights...

Editor's note: This column was co-authored by Terry Campo.The announcement of a deal on USMCA means President Trump will soon earn another signature legislative accomplishment during his first term. The president’s other significant accomplishments include Criminal Justice Reform, The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and the confirmations of two Supreme Court justices. Interestingly, the common thread between these major accomplishments is Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, arguably President Trump’s most effective weapon for executing his agenda on Capitol Hill. As chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over issues such as tax and trade, there was no greater...

The Democrat-directed impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump has cast a harsher light on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter’s dealings in Ukraine, prompting Senate Republicans to request detailed records from the federal government. As the House Intelligence Committee wrapped up the public impeachment hearings on Nov. 21, Senate Republicans sent another set of records requests to acquire information into the Obama administration’s meetings and decisions related to Burisma, the Ukrainian gas company that payed Hunter Biden tens of thousands of dollars a month to serve on its board. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Ron Johnson...

The Republican chairmen of two U.S. Senate committees have asked the Treasury Department to provide any reports of money laundering or fraud related to former Vice President Joe Biden’s son’s business dealings with a Ukraine energy firm, according to a letter seen by Reuters on Friday. The letter seeks “suspicious activity reports,” which are documents that financial institutions file with the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network whenever there is a suspected case of money laundering or fraud. It was unclear whether any such reports exist related to Hunter Biden, the former vice president’s son. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck...

President Trump invited two of his biggest Senate Republican critics, Sens. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Susan Collins (R-Maine), to the White House Thursday for an unspecified discussion. The invitation comes as impeachment hearings in the House continue. The House is widely expected to impeach Trump, which would create a trial in the Senate where Romney and Collins would be two of the most scrutinized GOP votes. Romney said before the meeting that he planned to talk about his own bill, the Trust Act, and the president’s plan for regulating vaping products. “If I’m asked for questions I want to talk...

Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley expressed frustration Monday at a months long delay in the release of the Justice Department Inspector General’s report on possible FBI surveillance abuse against the Trump campaign, questioning whether the “deep state” has somehow slowed the release of the document. “All of the delays and excuses why the Horowitz IG FISA report isn’t public yet after several months of anticipation of its issues leads me to the suspicion it’s going to be ‘deep six’ by the deep state,” Grassley wrote on Twitter. Michael Horowitz, the inspector general, began in March 2018 investigating whether the FBI...

Sep 30, 2019 Ukrainian Records Shed New Light on Biden's Ultimatum to Terminate Prosecutor --- Ukraine-DNC Coordination to Undermine Trump 2016 Campaign Should Not be Overlooked WASHINGTON - Two Senate chairmen want to know whether the Justice Department has acquired information from Ukrainian prosecutors that may contradict the stated reasoning behind former Vice President Joe Biden's threat to withhold U.S. assistance from Ukraine. They are also renewing an inquiry into the department's response to reported efforts by Ukrainians, in coordination with Democratic Party associates, to acquire damaging information on Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign. In a letter to...

Radio talk show host Mark Levin had strong words for Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who defended the Ukraine whistleblower, saying that he and other Senate Republicans do not have a "clue" on the issue. Grassley "comes to the defense of an individual whom he doesn't even know, whose secrecy he believes should apply even though he's trying to bring down a president the United States," Levin said Tuesday on "The Mark Levin Show" on Westwood One. "Chuck Grassley doesn't have a clue what's going on around him and neither do most of the Republicans in the Senate, including Mitch McConnell."...

Oct 01, 2019 Butler County, Iowa - Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) made the following comments regarding the intelligence community whistleblower and related issues. "This person appears to have followed the whistleblower protection laws and ought to be heard out and protected. We should always work to respect whistleblowers' requests for confidentiality. Any further media reports on the whistleblower's identity don't serve the public interest--even if the conflict sells more papers or attracts clicks. "No one should be making judgments or pronouncements without hearing from the whistleblower first and carefully following up on the facts. Uninformed speculation wielded by politicians or...