Washington—Representative Eliot L. Engel, Chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement regarding a new report from the State Department Office of the Inspector General regarding improper treatment of career State Department employees in the Bureau of International Organization Affairs:

“Today’s report confirms what we feared: ‘disrespectful and hostile’ treatment of career employees at the State Department, including spurious accusations that public servants were ‘disloyal’ and improper retaliation against them. There’s a lot of bad news in this report, but I’m particularly angry that Trump Administration political appointees inappropriately removed the second-highest-ranking official in the bureau investigated and denied another bureau employee a job opportunity because of his ‘relationship with the gay and lesbian community’ and his prior work on LGBT-human-rights and refugee issues.

“Let’s be clear: these actions are prohibited by law and they are offensive. They happened more than a year ago with no consequences. And Assistant Secretary Kevin Moley, who is somehow still running the bureau, appears to have done nothing to stop this vindictive culture. Ultimately, of course, the buck stops with Secretary Pompeo, who continues to employ Mr. Moley as part of his senior leadership team. Mr. Moley should resign or be fired.

“I understand that today’s report is the first result of a broader inquiry that I requested along with House and Senate colleagues in early 2018. There is more to come, and I hope it comes very soon. The delays from the Department on this matter have been frustrating. The House Foreign Affairs Committee, along with the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, is conducting an independent inquiry on these matters, and we won’t stop until this culture of impunity is ended and everyone responsible faces stiff consequences.”

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