Trump IG firings leave in doubt future of oversight

President Trump’s mass firing of 17 inspectors general late Friday flouted the law and sparked widespread condemnation from those who see it as an effort to block oversight of his administration.

The removals topple those responsible for providing an independent check on agencies and an avenue where whistleblowers can report wrongdoing — with Trump even targeting some who were his own nominees during his first administration. 

It was a move that figures on both sides of the aisle have said violates the law — even as Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) was mocked for describing the dismissals as “technically” illegal.

“We're looking at what amounts to a threat to democracy, a threat to independent oversight, and a threat to transparency in government. This is — the statute isn't just a technicality. It's a key protection of IG independence is what it is,” Mike Ware, who was fired from his role as inspector general of the Small Business Administration, said during an appearance on MSNBC.

Trump fired multiple inspectors during his first term in office, removing the inspector general for the intelligence community amid the events that sparked his first impeachment and another set to oversee COVID relief.

That pushed Congress in 2022 to update the Inspector General Act, requiring 30 days' notice to Congress as well as laying out the rationale behind removals.

What some called Trump’s “Friday Night Massacre” complied with neither requirement.

Inspectors general received an email Friday night alerting them of their removal, with Mark Greenblatt, whom Trump nominated as inspector general for the Department of Interior, saying his email was swiftly disabled, leaving unclear when he can collect his things.

The ousted watchdogs came from the Defense Department, State Department, Energy Department, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and others.

“It obviously will have a chilling effect, there’s no question about that,” said David Seide, counsel for the Government Accountability Project, which works with whistleblowers filing complaints.

“A good IG doesn't pull punches, is critical of the agency when it's important to be critical and praises the agency when it's warranted,” he said. 

“I read this as, ‘We want IGs here who aren’t going to criticize — they're gonna pull their punches on the new appointees.' That's the obvious inference to draw here.”

The firings generated limited criticism from some GOP members of Congress.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), long active on whistleblower policy, said he wanted to hear Trump’s rationale, noting that it is required by law.

“There may be good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know that if so. 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,” he said in a statement.

And Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said the move countered Trump’s stated interest in government oversight as he’s tapped Elon Musk to lead an outside panel on government efficiency.

“I don’t understand why one would fire individuals whose mission it is to root out waste, fraud and abuse. This leaves a gap in what I know is a priority for President Trump. So I don’t understand it,” she said over the weekend.

But Graham defended the decision, even as he said Trump “technically” violated the law.

“You know, I'm not overly worried about that. It's not the first time people have come in and put their team in — when you win an election, you need people in your administration that reflect your views,” he said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) disputed that in an appearance on the show afterward.

“To write off this clear violation of law by saying ‘well, technically, he broke the law,’ Yeah, he broke the law,” Schiff told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”

Ware also said there was nothing technical about it.

“The requirement to provide the substantive rationale, including detailed and case specific reasons, was added to better enable Congress to engage on and respond to a proposed removal of an inspector general in order to protect the independence of inspectors general,” said Ware, who is also the chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, which has also condemned the firings.

Unfortunately, it's not clear there’s much recourse for those who were fired.

“The remedies, while they exist, are not especially meaningful,” Seide said, noting that even a successful lawsuit might just push Trump to go back to Congress and issue the notifications.

The law does require a rationale, with the president providing “an intellectually honest reason for doing it,” Seide said, but Congress can’t stop the removals.

“The Congress, under the statute, can't stop the removals, but the point of the notice period is to show that inspector generals are being removed for legitimate, objective reasons, and not based on the whims of administrations,” he said.

House Democrats on Saturday asked Trump to walk back the firings, complaining they were done “in the dead of night.”

“Firing inspectors general without due cause is antithetical to good government, undermines the proper stewardship of taxpayer dollars, and degrades the federal government’s ability to function effectively and efficiently. We urge you to withdraw your unlawful action and comply with your obligations to the American people,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee ranking member Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) wrote in a letter likewise signed by each committee’s top Democrat.

Trump defended his move while speaking to reporters traveling with him on Air Force One on Saturday night.

“It’s a very common thing to do,” Trump asserted, while adding of the watchdogs: “Some people thought that some were unfair, some were not doing their job.”

Greenblatt on CNN on Monday described getting a brief email late Sunday alerting him he was fired.

“To get an email from the White House saying White House notification on a Friday night at 7:30, I knew that couldn’t be good. And so, I opened it up and there was a two sentence email from the director of presidential personnel that said, in light of changing priorities, you are terminated from your position at the Department of the Interior effective immediately,” he said during an appearance on “CNN This Morning.”

Greenblatt, among the Trump appointees fired, arrived at the Interior Department alongside appointees like former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, a former oil and energy lobbyist accused of conflicts of interest. He also reviewed the U.S. Park Police’s role in clearing out Lafayette Park as protesters gathered to mourn George Floyd, finding they did not clear the park for Trump to cross the street and pose with a Bible.

“These removals should be setting off alarm bells for a number of different reasons. But the primary one, in my view, is the independence of these positions. The whole construct of inspectors general, it’s based on us being independent, that we’re not beholden to a political party of any stripe,” Greenblatt said before musing about possible replacements.

“And so the question is, what will President Trump do with these positions? Is he going to nominate watchdogs or is he going to nominate lapdogs?”