The Wall Street Journal - 16.08.2019

A4| Friday, August 16, 2019 PWLC101112HTGKBFAM123456789OIXX **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

The State Department’s in-

spector general said in a re-

port that high-ranking depart-

ment officials berated career

employees over their political

views, questioning their loy-

alty and retaliating against

some of them.

The Office of Inspector Gen-

eral described “leadership and

management deficiencies” by

Assistant Secretary of State

for International Organization

Affairs Kevin Moley and his

former senior adviser, Mari

Stull.

Mr. Moley, who disputed

the allegations in a response

to the report, remains in his

post, while Ms. Stull has left

the department. She didn’t re-

spond to a request to com-

ment. Both were Trump ad-

ministration appointees.

State Department Under

Secretary for Political Affairs

David Hale didn’t dispute the

report’s conclusions. He wrote

that the department had al-

ready taken action to address

management and performance

deficiencies in the Bureau of

International Organization Af-

fairs and said “further disci-

pline will be considered.”

The report cited findings

including “disrespectful and

hostile treatment of employ-

ees, accusations against and

harassment of career employ-

ees premised on claims that

they were ‘disloyal’ based on

their perceived political views,

and retaliation associated with

conflicts of interest.”

Current and former bureau

employees alleged that both

Mr. Moley and Ms. Stull “fre-

quently berated employees,

raised their voices, and gener-

ally engaged in unprofessional

behavior toward staff.”

Staffers said both officials

“made inappropriate accusa-

tions of disloyalty and made

positive or negative comments

about employees based on

perceived political views.”

Some employees said they

were accused of being mem-

bers of the “deep state” and of

undermining President Trump’s

agenda.

According to the report, the

investigation was prompted by

an article in Foreign Policy al-

leging that the political affilia-

tions and views of career em-

ployees were being evaluated,

leading to several dismissals.

Senior Democratic lawmak-

ers wrote to Secretary of State

Mike Pompeo in June 2018 re-

garding the allegations, and

the matter was referred to the

inspector general.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.),

House Foreign Affairs Com-

mittee chairman and one of

the authors of the letter to Mr.

Pompeo, said Thursday that

the report confirms lawmak-

ers’ fears.

“These actions are prohib-

ited by law and they are offen-

sive,” Mr. Engel said in a

statement. He called for Mr.

Moley’s resignation or termi-

nation, adding “the buck stops

with Secretary Pompeo.”

While the investigation sub-

stantiated many of the initial

allegations, investigators said

their findings are incomplete

because of the office’s inability

to compel cooperation by Ms.

Stull, who left the department

in January.

Sen. Bob Menendez (D.,

N.J.), ranking member on the

Senate Foreign Relations Com-

mittee and another author of

the letter, said Thursday that

politicization of the national

security apparatus endangers

the country.

“Creating a hostile environ-

ment at the State Department,

discriminating against loyal

public servants, and retaliat-

ing against those deemed not

loyal is a cancer at the State

Department and for career

employees across the govern-

ment,” Mr. Menendez said.

The inspector general said

it plans to release findings on

“similar allegations” in a sepa-

rate report.

BYCOURTNEYMCBRIDE

Officials

At State

Criticized

In Report

Career staffers were

berated over their

views, the inspector

general says.

attempting to interfere in Mr.

Mueller’s probe of Russian

meddling in the 2016 election.

Judiciary Chairman Jerrold

Nadler (D., N.Y.) has said the

investigation could lead to the

panel recommending the House

vote to impeach the president.

A spokeswoman for the Re-

publicans on the committee

said the subpoenas “only

waste more time and taxpayer

dollars” because they seek in-

formation already available in

the Mueller report.

Neither the White House

nor Messrs. Lewandowski and

Dearborn responded to re-

quests for comment.

Mr. Lewandowski served as

Mr. Trump’s campaign man-

ager from January 2015 to

June 2016 and remained an

adviser afterward, though he

never worked for the Trump

administration. He is de-

scribed throughout Mr. Muel-

ler’s report as having deep

knowledge of the campaign’s

operations.

Mr. Nadler is focused on

two instances in which Mr. Le-

wandowski was asked by Mr.

Trump to deliver messages to

then-attorney general Jeff Ses-

sions urging him to curb the

Mueller investigation.

In June 2017, the president

met with Mr. Lewandowski in

the Oval Office and dictated a

message to Mr. Sessions, ac-

cording to the report.

The message said that Mr.

Sessions should announce that

Mr. Mueller’s investigation was

“very unfair” and that the

president had done nothing

wrong.

A month later, Mr. Trump

asked about the status of the

message and Mr. Lewandowski

told the president it would be

delivered soon, the report said.

Because Mr. Lewandowski

didn’t want to deliver the mes-

sage personally, he asked Mr.

Dearborn to do so, according

to the report. Mr. Dearborn

had served as chief of staff to

then-Sen. Sessions before join-

ing the Trump administration.

The Mueller report states

that Mr. Lewandowski gave

Mr. Dearborn a typewritten

version of the president’s mes-

sage.

According to the report, Mr.

Dearborn recalled telling Mr.

Lewandowski that he had han-

dled the situation, but didn’t

follow through, and told Mr.

Mueller’s investigators that

being asked to deliver the

message made him uncomfort-

able.

Mr. Lewandowski is weigh-

ing a U.S. Senate run in New

Hampshire. Mr. Trump seemed

to endorse him Thursday

ahead of a campaign rally in

the state. In a radio interview,

the president said that “if he

ran, he’d be a great senator.”

—Andrew Restuccia

contributed to this article.

WASHINGTON—The House
Judiciary Committee on
Thursday subpoenaed two for-
mer Trump associates who the
panel’s Democratic chairman
said were involved in Presi-
dent Trump’s effort to impede
special counsel Robert Muel-
ler’s investigation.
The Democratic-led com-
mittee issued subpoenas to
Corey Lewandowski, Donald
Trump’s campaign manager
for much of the 2016 race, and
Rick Dearborn, onetime dep-
uty White House chief of staff,
to give public testimony on
Sept. 17.
The House is seeking their
testimony as part of its inves-
tigation into whether Mr.
Trump obstructed justice by

BYNATALIEANDREWS

House Panel Subpoenas Lewandowski, Dearborn

causes bladder cancer, which

can lead to bloody urine,” ac-

companied by a photo of a

specimen cup filled with red-

dish liquid.

The latest proposal calls for

the warning messages to oc-

cupy the top half of the front

and rear panels of cigarette

packages and at least 20% of

the top of cigarette ads.

Altria, maker of industry-

leading Marlboro cigarettes,

said it has been expecting

such a move. “We seek to

work constructively with the

agency, and we are reviewing

the proposed rule,” a spokes-

man said.

Newport maker British

American TobaccoPLC, which

owns Reynolds American, is

also reviewing the FDA’s latest

proposal, a spokeswoman said.

“We firmly support public

awareness of the harms of

smoking cigarettes, but the

manner in which those mes-

sages are delivered to the pub-

lic cannot run afoul of the

First Amendment protections

that apply to all speakers, in-

cluding cigarette manufactur-

ers,” the spokeswoman said.

Health warnings first ap-

peared on cigarette packages

in 1966 and were most re-

cently updated in 1984 to in-

clude the Surgeon General’s

warnings that appear on pack-

ages and in advertisements to-

day. The FDA argues those

text-based messages are too

small and less effective than

messages with images.

In their legal challenge, the

tobacco companies argued the

agency’s original graphic

warnings didn’t achieve the

government’s stated intent of

conveying health risks and

rather were aimed at evoking

shock and disgust. The origi-

nal warnings also included a

smoking cessation hotline,

which was outside their scope.

The new warnings use more

detailed language—warning

about specific cancers, rather

than cancer in general—and

describe some of the lesser-

known health risks of smok-

ing, such as poor circulation,

cataracts and macular degen-

eration.

The FDA will now seek pub-

lic comment on the proposal.

—Saabira Chaudhuri

contributed to this article.

The Food and Drug Admin-
istration proposed a rule re-
quiring cigarette packs to fea-
ture graphic health warnings,
including color photos of
smoking-related illnesses.
Similar health warnings are
required on cigarette boxes in
other countries but aren’t
mandatory in the U.S., where
tobacco companies success-
fully sued to block them.
While adult smoking rates
have declined in recent de-
cades, the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention esti-
mate that 480,000 Americans
die from cigarette smoking ev-
ery year.
“Given that tobacco use is
still the leading cause of pre-
ventable disease and death in
the U.S., there’s a lot at stake
to ensure the public under-
stands these risks,” said Act-
ing FDA Commissioner Ned
Sharpless on Thursday.
The FDA’s proposed graphic
labels would represent the
biggest overhaul of cigarette-
health warnings in more than
three decades. The proposal is

BYJENNIFERMALONEY also a test of the rule-making
clout of the agency, after its
previous effort to implement
pictorial warnings was
quashed.
In 2012, a group of tobacco
companies convinced an ap-
peals court that the agency’s
proposed images violated their
First Amendment rights. That
group included Reynolds
AmericanInc. but notAltria
GroupInc., the U.S. cigarette
market leader.
Since 1984, labels describ-
ing the dangers of smoking
have been contained in a small
box with black-and-white text.
But the 2009 law that gave the
FDA regulatory authority over
tobacco required the agency to
issue new rules for color
warnings on cigarette packs.
The FDA’s original proposal
for these graphic warnings in-
cluded images of a body on an
autopsy table and a man ex-
haling cigarette smoke
through a hole in his throat.
The newly proposed warnings
include a large tumor on a
woman’s neck and a pair of
feet with amputated toes. One
warning says: “Smoking

U.S. NEWS

$1 million each. Another, John

Walsh, a former U.S. attorney,

is close behind.

“These are people who

want to run for Senate, not

people who are looking at the

Senate as a consolation prize,”

said Becky Bond. She is a for-

mer adviser to Mr. O’Rourke

who this week launched a new

organization called Action PAC

that plans to spend $5 million

to help Democrats win the

Senate. The group has en-

dorsed Mr. Romanoff.

Mr. O’Rourke, who was also

wooed by Mr. Schumer, simi-

larly would face stiff competi-

tion in the Texas Senate pri-

mary. M.J. Hegar—an Air

Force veteran who lost a sub-

urban congressional race by

about three percentage points

in 2018—has attracted signifi-

cant support.

“M.J., the bad-ass mom vet-

eran that she is, is best posi-

tioned to talk to everybody in

the state about how she’s will-

ing to fight for them,” said

Amanda Sherman, a Hegar

campaign spokeswoman.

Texas progressives were

galvanized this week when

Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez,

who runs a nonprofit aimed at

mobilizing young Latino vot-

ers, entered the race.

An O’Rourke campaign

spokeswoman said a run for

Senate wasn’t on the table. A

University of Texas poll of

Texans this month showed

57% of respondents wanted

Mr. O’Rourke to stay in the

presidential race, with 26%

saying he should drop out.

By contrast, Montana Gov.

Steve Bullock, a later entrant

into the presidential race who

has struggled to gain traction,

would likely dominate the

Democratic field in his state if

he decided to run against Re-

publican Sen. Steve Daines.

According to Montana

strategists, Democratic donors

have been advised to take a

wait-and-see approach in the

race so they can support Mr.

Bullock if he decides to run.

So far, Wilmot Collins—a

Liberian refugee who last

year became the Democratic

mayor of Helena, Montana’s

capital—is the only public of-

ficeholder to declare for the

race, and he raised just over

$90,000 during the second

quarter of this year. Two

other candidates have also

entered the primary. But mul-

tiple potential candidates are

rumored to be waiting for Mr.

Bullock’s decision.

“He’s popular, he’s well

known—there’s no one who

could stack up to him in terms

of name recognition or any-

thing else,” a veteran Montana

Democratic strategist said of

Mr. Bullock.

Mr. Bullock has been ada-

mant both privately and pub-

licly that he has no intention

of running for anything other

than president. A campaign

spokesman referred to com-

ments he made last week on

CNN, when he praised the

“great folks running for the

Senate in Montana” and said

one of them would have a

good chance of winning the

race, but “it won’t be me.”

“I’ve known Steve a long

time, and I think he’s made it

pretty clear he’s not interested

in the Senate,” said Nancy

Keenan, the former executive

director of the Montana Dem-

ocratic Party.

—Ken Thomas

contributed to this article.

Former Colorado Gov. John
Hickenlooper’s decision to
drop out of the crowded Dem-
ocratic presidential field and
consider a Senate run signaled
that party leaders’ efforts to
press low-polling candidates
to follow such a path could be
making headway.
Mr. Hickenlooper said on
Thursday that he would give
“serious thought” to a Senate
run. Democratic leaders have
been urging former Texas
Rep. Beto O’Rourke and Mon-
tana Gov. Steve Bullock to run
for the Senate as well. Both
have strongly disavowed any
interest in running for other
offices.
Many Democrats in those
states, meanwhile, are fo-
cused on other options and
don’t plan on waiting for
dropouts from the White
House campaign trail to de-
fine their primaries.
Mr. Hickenlooper had been
resistant to calls to oppose Re-
publican Sen. Cory Gardner by
various Democratic Party lead-
ers, including Senate Minority
Leader Chuck Schumer of New
York, though his reluctance
had softened in recent weeks.
Were he to enter the Senate
race, Mr. Hickenlooper would
face a number of well-funded
opponents who have already
launched their own bids.
“Six months ago, I decided
to run for Senate because I re-
alized how important it was to
beat Cory Gardner,” said Mike
Johnston, an ex-state senator.
Three Democratic candi-
dates—Mr. Johnston; Dan
Baer, a former Obama admin-
istration State Department of-
ficial; and Andrew Romanoff, a
former speaker of the state
House of Representatives—
have already raised more than

BYGABRIELT.RUBIN

Hickenlooper Ends 2020 Campaign

Democratic leaders

push some hopefuls

to trade White House

bids for Senate races

Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said he would give ‘serious thought’ to a run against GOP Sen. Cory Gardner.

CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

FDA Pushes for

Graphic Warnings

On Cigarette Packs

Proposed warnings include images and messages such as one linking smoking to bladder cancer.

FDA/REUTERS

The onetime Trump

campaign chief and

an ex-aide are cited

in the Mueller report.