WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Democratic lawmakers on Friday said they are expanding their investigation into the firing of State Department Inspector General (IG) Steve Linick.

"We are aware that Mr. Linick's office was working on at least two investigations that touched directly on Secretary Pompeo's actions at the time that Secretary Pompeo recommended that the president fire him," House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and Senator Bob Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a joint statement.

The lawmakers are planning to conduct transcribed interviews with "key officials" who may know why Linick was fired and how his investigative work at the department may have been a factor in Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's decision to ask President Donald Trump to remove him, according to a report by The Hill.

"If Pompeo pushed for Mr. Linick's dismissal to cover up his own misconduct, that would constitute an egregious abuse of power and a clear attempt to avoid accountability," they said.

Pompeo admitted last week that he recommended to Trump that Linick be terminated earlier this month. The president's decision has sparked an inquiry by Democrats and scrutiny even by a number of Republicans on Capitol.

As inspector general, Linick was responsible for, among other things, conducting administrative and criminal investigations of waste, fraud, mismanagement, and misconduct in the State Department, according to his online biography.

Besides Linick, Trump has moved in the past few weeks to fire Intelligence Community IG Michael Atkinson, acting Pentagon IG Glenn Fine, and Christi Grimm, principal deputy IG of the Department of Health and Human Services. Enditem

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