WASHINGTON —
The Trump administration has fired about 17 independent inspectors general at U.S. government agencies, a sweeping action to remove oversight of his new administration that some members of Congress are suggesting violates federal oversight laws.
The dismissals began Friday night and were effective immediately, according to two people familiar with the action. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details that have not been made public. Neither confirmed the exact number of firings, but an email sent by one of the fired inspectors general said “roughly 17” inspectors general had been removed.
Congress was not given 30-day notices about the removals — something that even a top Republican is decrying.
“There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so,” Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.
“I’d like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the 30-day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress,” said Grassley, a Republican.
The role of the modern-day inspector general dates to post-Watergate Washington, when Congress installed offices inside agencies as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be nonpartisan.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham acknowledged that the firings violated statutes but shrugged it off: “Just tell them you need to follow the law next time,” he said.
Democrats and watchdog groups, however, used the dismissals to raise alarm that Trump was making it easier to take advantage of the government.
“Inspectors General are the cops on the beat preventing bad things from happening,” Max Stier, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, said in a statement. “Their work saves the taxpayer tens of billions of dollars every year.”
The White House did not comment Saturday. Trump was in Las Vegas for a speech focused on his campaign promise to end federal taxation on tips.
But the moves were consistent with Trump’s first week back in the White House, which has featured a series of steps to remake the federal government. He has used executive orders to impose hiring freezes, cracked down on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and suggested he wants to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and leave disaster recovery up to individual states affected by major emergencies.
“Yesterday, in the dark of night, President Trump fired at least 12 independent inspector generals at important federal agencies across the administration,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Saturday on the chamber’s floor. “This is a chilling purge and it’s a preview of the lawless approach Donald Trump and his administration are taking far too often as he’s becoming president.”
The Washington Post, which first reported the firings, said that many were appointees from Trump’s first term. Among those inspectors general reportedly removed included those for the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense and Education.
Spared in this round of dismissals, however, was Michael Horowitz, the longtime Justice Department inspector general who has issued reports on assorted politically explosive criminal investigations over the past decade.
In December 2019, for instance, Horowitz released a report faulting the FBI for surveillance warrant applications in the investigation into ties between Russia and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. But the report also found that the investigation had been opened for a legitimate purpose and did not find evidence that partisan bias had guided investigative decisions.
Horowitz’s status aside, the move against the watchdogs drew criticism from congressional Democrats.
Still, Trump has aggressively challenged the authority of independent agency watchdog groups in the past.
In 2020, he replaced multiple key inspectors general, including those leading the Defense Department and intelligence community, as well as the inspector general tapped to chair a special oversight board for the $2.2 trillion economic relief package on the coronavirus.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called Trump’s actions “a purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night.”
“Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct,” Warren posted on X.
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