On Monday, in an interview with The Post, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he didn’t know a fired inspector general was investigating his own conduct, and that he’d recommended the firing because he believed the State Department inspector general was “undermining” the work of the agency

The Secretary said to the paper that he recommended Inspector General Steve Linick’s firing because he believed the independent watchdog was not acting in a way that the secretary felt made the State Department better.

“I went to the president and made clear to him that Inspector General Linick wasn’t performing a function in a way that we had tried to get him to, that was additive for the State Department, very consistent with what the statute says he’s supposed to be doing,” Pompeo said in the phone interview with The Post “The kinds of activities he’s supposed to undertake to make us better, to improve us.”

President Trump said on Monday that he supported the Secretary’s recommendation in mostly because Linick had been appointed by President Obama in 2013.

“I don’t know anything about him other than the State Department, and Mike in particular, I guess they weren’t happy with the job he’s doing or something. So because it’s my right to do it I said, ‘Sure, I’ll do it.’ I’ve gotten rid of a lot of inspector generals. Every president has,” Trump told reporters.

“A lot of our people kept the Obama inspector general, and I think generally speaking that’s not a good thing to do. I told them for three years, I said anybody wants to get rid of their IGs because they’re appointed by President Obama, I think you should do so,” he said.

Pompeo told the Post that he was only aware of an investigation set to be released involving a national security manner and had no knowledge of a probe into his misuse of a staffer.

“It is not possible that this decision, or my recommendation rather, to the president rather, was based on any effort to retaliate for any investigation that was going on or is currently going on,” he told the Post. “Because I simply don’t know. I’m not briefed on it. I usually see these investigations in final draft form 24 hours, 48 hours before the IG is prepared to release them.

“So it’s simply not possible for this to be an act of retaliation. End of story.”