Trump appointees routinely bullied State Department staffers, IG reports

Source: Roll Call

A long-awaited investigation by the State Department’s inspector general concluded in a report released Thursday that multiple career employees were subjected to “disrespectful,” “hostile” and “inappropriate” treatment at the hands of political appointees.

The review specifically focused on allegations of political retaliation against career employees at the Bureau of International Organization Affairs, which leads and coordinates U.S. policy toward the United Nations. For over a year, House and Senate Democrats have pushed for a thorough investigation into whistleblower complaints and news reports that political appointees were vetting career employees at the State Department and retaliating against those they deemed insufficiently loyal to President Donald Trump and his administration’s conservative agenda.

The IG review found that though “numerous” employees raised concerns internally to department management outside of the IO bureau about the mistreatment within the bureau, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs Kevin Moley failed to take “significant action to respond to such concerns.”

The 34-page report details numerous examples of Moley’s and then-bureau senior adviser Mari Stull’s treatment of staffers. The review also describes Moley’s pursuit of unjustified first-class travel accommodations, and conflicts of interests held by Stull from her time at the United Nations. Stull no longer works at the department.

Read more: https://www.rollcall.com/news/whitehouse/trump-appointees-routinely-bullied-state-department-staffers-ig-report-finds