State Department Inspector General Steve Linick went to Capitol Hill today to brief powerful congressional committees about a bizarre letter the government agency received from an unknown sender.
But the source of Linick’s information may be just as interesting as what he had to say.
The diplomatic watchdog said in a Tuesday message to House and Senate panels on foreign relations, intelligence, appropriations and oversight that it had obtained the documents from the acting legal adviser of the Department of State. That title is held by Marik String, a former Wilmer Hale associate who passed the bar in 2013.
Per Linick’s letter, String provided information to the IG that urgently needs to be conveyed to Congress. After meeting with the watchdog, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told reporters that the meeting focused on a letter the State Department received outlining the same conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and his supporters, focusing on allegations around a supposed “deep state.”
Three House panels have depositions scheduled this week with former U.S. special envoy for the Ukraine crisis Kurt Volker and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. Both officials left their jobs this year, their careers collateral damage to President Trump and Rudy Giuliani’s dirt-finding efforts in Ukraine.
Linick’s letter came after Pompeo signaled opposition to the planned testimony, himself accusing House Democrats of an attempt to “bully” and “intimidate.”
But the fact that it was String who supposedly supplied the information to the IG raises a number of questions, not least because of his position as legal adviser. The job is essentially general counsel for the State Department, set to operate — in the words of one former official from the office — “the world’s largest international law firm.”
String’s appointment to an acting role in the job in May 2019 raised eyebrows in part because of perceptions that he lacked the necessary experience.
Before going to law school, String appears to have worked as a Republican foreign policy staffer on the hill.
He worked for Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), and traveled to Ukraine in 2010 as an election monitor with the International Republican Institute.
String’s State Department biography notes that as deputy assistant secretary, he was charged with overseeing arms transfers to foreign countries — a portfolio worth $200 billion.
He was appointed to the position on May 24. The same day, Just Security reported, String submitted an “emergency declaration” allowing the White House to go around Congress in authorizing weapons sales to nations in the Persian Gulf.
That was also one day after Trump met with Energy Secretary Rick Perry following the former Texas governor’s return from Kyiv, Volker, and Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland. That meeting has drawn the attention of House Democrats investigating Trump and Giuliani’s pressure campaign against the Ukrainian government to force Kyiv to fabricate political dirt.
The job is not for the callow.
The article in Just Security cited a former State Department official as saying that the legal adviser “is expected to have legal knowledge and expertise on the entire range of international law issues, from the laws of armed conflict to private international law to human rights to international environmental law.”
“It’s hard to imagine someone so inexperienced filling these shoes,” the official continued.
“It’s hard to imagine someone so inexperienced filling these shoes,” the official continued.
Twinkies and milk. They’ll put hair on your chest. Probably String’s secret power.
I’m watching live coverage of Dem Jamie Raskin of the Judiciary Committee speaking to the media about this meeting, and something doesn’t feel right about it, which Raskin hinted at but didn’t explicitly say. It feels like a false flag op intended to bait Dems into looking like they’re willfully using false information in order to undo the 2016 election. But Raskin isn’t falling for it. Dems are going to thoroughly review and look into what they were just given and decide what it means, who’s behind it and what to do with it. Good. That’s the right way to do this.
Was just watching the presser the H. Judiciary was holding. Jeeze, Jamie Raskin doesn’t know when to stfu. He’s a lousy communicator
He and Pres. Trump have that in common.
String seems like the kind of guy who would try to plant false info and documents with IG Linick just to throw things off and give the Trump Mob something else to shout about.
But … could he do that without the more experienced Linick getting suspicious? Wouldn’t Linick try to corroborate before going to the House committees (or has he been compromised, too)? Is String smart enough to pull this off without it crashing down around him and Pompeo?