BEIRUT, LEBANON (5:30 P.M.) – CNN stated that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo assigned the parties concerned to find a way to justify the “state of emergency” announced last year to accelerate the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The network quoted four informed sources as saying that this decision, which concerns an eight-billion-dollar deal, shocked diplomats at the State Department
A State Department official described the behavior as “very trampic”, saying: “It appears that they had a plan to play and were looking for a justification for it.”
The official pointed out that ministry officials informed the Office of the Inspector General in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in this regard last year within the framework of the investigation of Pompeo’s moves to accelerate the arms deal.
CNN sources indicated that, at Pompeo’s request, State Department officials had to prepare the situation to provide a justification for a decision taken “in an aggressive and unconventional way.”
The investigation of Pompeo’s pressure to accelerate the arms deal with Saudi Arabia has sparked widespread controversy in the United States, especially against the backdrop of President Donald Trump’s decision to fire State Department Inspector Steve Linnick at the request of Pompeo last week.
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