Senate Democrats knock Pompeo’s management of State Department

Senate Democrats will release a report Tuesday afternoon blasting Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s handling of the State Department, days before the U.S.’s top diplomat is set to appear before a Senate panel.

Written by the committee’s Democratic staff, the report — titled “Diplomacy in Crisis: The Trump Administration’s Decimation of the State Department” — reviews and analyzes the “senior-level vacancies plaguing the State Department, repeated nominee vetting failures, and attacks on career employees,” while issuing “a set of recommendations for rebuilding and retaining diplomatic expertise,” according to a release about the report.

One part from the report, which was obtained by Politico, reads: “The Trump administration’s negligence and its attacks on our diplomatic corps, who serve on the front lines of our global pandemic response, have left diplomats devoid of leadership and cost the United States valuable time in preparedness and response efforts.”

The Democrats’ report will also say that mass departures from the State Department have weakened the agency and made it unable to properly respond amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In response to the report, a State Department spokesperson told Politico that “the State Department’s swagger is fully back.”

“From day one, Secretary Pompeo has delivered on advancing the interests and values of the American people both here at home and around the world,” the spokesperson added. “At the core of this success is the dynamic and talented team that forges ahead each and every day with one mission, and toward one future.”

One of the main topics of Pompeo’s hearing Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will be about the spending cuts that the Trump administration has proposed for fiscal 2021. Another hot-button issue will likely be Pompeo’s firing of former State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, who was reportedly conducting two probes directly related to the Pompeo.