Trump Fires 17 Inspectors General, Raising Legal Issues and Criticism 

Legislators have criticized Trump for firing 17 inspectors general, citing oversight issues, while others have supported the action.

The dismissal of 17 independent inspectors general from various federal agencies by US President Donald Trump has sparked questions about supervision and possible legal infractions. 

A source familiar with the situation said that the White House personnel director emailed the inspectors general to notify them of their imminent removal. 

Among the agencies impacted are the Departments of Defense, Transportation, and State. Requests for reaction from the White House have not yet received a response. 

Federal law, which requires the president to provide both houses of Congress a 30-day notice period and an explanation for firing inspectors general, seems to be in conflict with the abrupt dismissals. 

Conducting audits and investigations to find waste, fraud, and abuse inside government agencies is the responsibility of these officers. 

According to the Washington Post, which broke the news first, the majority of the dismissed officials were appointees during Trump’s first term in office, which ran from 2017 to 2021. According to The New York Times, Michael Horowitz, the inspector general of the Department of Justice, was not hurt. 

Massachusetts Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren harshly denounced Trump’s moves, calling them a “midnight purge of independent watchdogs.” Warren said, “President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption,” in a post on X, the old name of Twitter. 

On the other hand, Sidney Powell, a former attorney and Trump friend, supported the action, claiming that the current inspectors general are incompetent. Powell stated on X, “They might highlight a few small issues but achieve very little.” 

“A complete overhaul of the system is required! Their lack of teeth means that they defend the institution rather than the people. 

As Trump, who took office again on Monday, continues to work to reform the federal bureaucracy, the mass firings occur. 

His government has already started to eliminate diversity initiatives, cancel employment offers, and exclude over 150 foreign policy and national security personnel. 

Inspectors general have historically served throughout administrations to maintain independent monitoring, although politically nominated agency chiefs usually change with each administration. 

Conflicts between Trump and the inspectors general have occurred before. During his first term in 2020, he dismissed five of them in two months, including the inspector general of the State Department who was part in the investigations that resulted in Trump’s impeachment. 

Legal protections that were implemented in 2022 under President Joe Biden’s administration are also being highlighted by the firings. 

The goal of these reforms was to make it more difficult for a president to replace inspectors general with loyalists without giving Congress thorough justifications. 

In a noteworthy similarity, in 2023, Biden fired an inspector general after a US Railroad Retirement Board official was accused of creating a hostile work environment.