State Dept Ousts Official Who Profited Off Emergency Declaration In Iran

A senior State Department official, who helped coordinate the Trump administration move to declare an emergency over escalated tensions between the U.S. and Iran, has been pushed out of the department, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The official, Charles Faulkner, helped plan the emergency declaration, which resulted in an $8 billion arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a sale that put billions of dollars in the pockets of a defense firm — Raytheon Co. —  that he used to represent as a lobbyist, according to the WSJ. Faulkner resigned from the State Department in early May, current and former officials told the WSJ.

The incident has raised alarm in Congress and Democratic lawmakers are interested in knowing whether Faulkner violated ethics rules by working on the emergency plan. The House Foreign Affairs Committee will have a hearing on Wednesday to question the State Department about the incident.