Trump condemned over ‘blatantly illegal’ firings of watchdog chiefs
Trump condemned over ‘blatantly illegal’ firings of watchdog chiefs
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Inspectors general dismissed by president sound alarm and say moves pave way for appointment of ‘political lackeys’. Independent watchdogs summarily dismissed by Donald Trump have denounced the move as illegal and a threat to democracy that paves the way for the appointment of “political lackeys” and widespread institutional corruption.
The sacking of the 18 inspectors general from federal agencies last Friday, including the departments of defence, energy and state, has also been widely condemned as illegal, and as part of the Project 2025 plan for a rightwing authoritarian takeover of government.
Hannibal “Mike” Ware, who was the inspector general for the Small Business Administration until his sudden firing, told MSNBC that the dismissals are anti-democratic because they ride roughshod over a law requiring the president to give Congress 30 days’ notice and the reasoning for any such move.
“This is not about any of our individual jobs. We acknowledge that the president has the right to remove any of us that he chooses. But the protections that were baked into the act is everything, absent having to provide a real reason. We’re looking at what amounts to a threat to democracy, a threat to independent oversight, and a threat to transparency in government,” he said.
The Office of Inspector General was created in 1976 to provide a check on abuse of government following the Watergate scandal. In 2022, Congress strengthened an existing law preventing the arbitrary removal of inspectors general for political ends, and their replacement with officials who were not independent of the White House, in response to Trump firings during his first term. These included the dismissals of inspectors general investigating the secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and the transportation secretary Elaine Chao, and their replacement with loyalists who quashed the investigations.
