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One of President Donald Trump’s highest-ranking foreign policy officials at the State Department forced out a career staffer over her ties to the Obama administration and outside pressure by conservative media outlets who questioned her loyalty.

That’s one of the main findings from a newly released State Department Inspector General report on a months-long investigation into Brian Hook, the Trump administration’s special representative for Iran, and other State Department officials over alleged politically motivated firings and staffing decisions.

The report says Hook and his team removed Iran expert Sahar Nowrouzzadeh — referred to in the report only as “Employee One” — from a senior policy-planning role on the Iran portfolio in 2017 not because of the quality of her work but rather because of perceptions that she hated Trump, had a preference for Democrats, and was loyal to Iran, not the US.

The Inspector General also looked into four other State employees for their alleged bias in personnel handling. However, the report “found no evidence that inappropriate factors played a role in relevant decisions” involving two of the cases, and not enough information to make an informed decision one way or the other on the other two cases.

But the case involving Hook’s actions toward Nowrouzzadeh is by far the most consequential of the bunch, as Hook is the senior official in charge of leading Trump’s maximum-pressure campaign against Iran and is close to top White House officials, including Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner.

The IG report lays out in stark detail how the White House’s paranoia about a “deep state” conspiracy of career government officials secretly working to thwart the president’s agenda — fueled by right-wing media outlets — has impacted the lives of dedicated public servants. As Politico notes, “civil service and foreign service employees” are “supposed to be protected by law from political retaliation.”

The report recommends that Hook and other political appointees receive training on “prohibited personnel practices and related Department policies,” but it leaves the determination of whether Hook should receive any additional disciplinary action up to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo has said, according to the report, that he will “consider” whether to discipline Hook. But experts say the secretary — who is very close to Hook — is unlikely to do anything.