President Donald Trump fired at least a dozen “independent” watchdogs, known as inspectors general, who oversee government agencies — prompting immediate screaming from ordinary suspects who insist the move is illegal.
The impeachments are likely to be one of Trump’s first major court battles since taking office — at least one of the dismissed inspectors general, Cardell Richardson, a senior from the State Department — telling employees he was ignoring Trump and showing up for work Monday, claiming the shootings were illegal, politico reports, citing an anonymous source.
Other dismissed inspectors general include inspectors from the state, agriculture, interior, transportation, housing and urban development, education, labor and defense, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Inspectors general of the Department of Justice, the Office of Human Resource Management, the Federal Communications Commission, the Export-Import Bank and the Department of Homeland Security will remain in office, according to the person.
The inspectors general were fired through emails from the White House president’s personnel office without sending notice to lawmakers on Capitol Hill who have promised bipartisan support for watchdogs before the shootings, the person said. The emails did not provide a meaningful explanation for the dismissals, at least one citing the “changing priorities” of the move, the person added. – POLITICo
Speaking Saturday night aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that he did not know the dismissed inspectors general, but that “some people thought some were unfair or some weren’t doing the job” and that the shootings were “a very common thing to do.”
When asked if he was going to install loyalists in their place, Trump said he “doesn’t know anyone who would do that,” adding, “We’re going to put people in there who are very good.”
As the Epoch Times further notes, Hannibal Ware, inspector general of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and chairman of the Board of Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), said in a Jan. 24 letter sent to Sergio Gori, director of the White House presidential staff, challenging a series of dismissal emails Gor had sent to several inspectors general — including Ware.
“I am writing in response to your email, which was sent to me and the other inspectors general earlier tonight, in which you informed all of us that ‘because of the change of priorities, your position as Inspector General … will be terminated, will take effect immediately,'” Ware wrote in a letter to Gori.
“At this time, we do not believe that the measures taken are legally sufficient to dismiss the Senate-elected, Senate-approved inspectors general,” Ware wrote.
Ware said the Inspector General Act of 1978 requires the president to give Congress at least 30 days’ notice of the dismissal of the inspector general, and that “substantive justification, including detailed and case-by-case reasons, must be provided for such terminations.”
Ware’s role was confirmed by the Senate in 2018. In 2024, President Joe Biden also appointed Ware to head the Office of the Inspector General of the Social Security Administration. Ware’s suitability to serve in the last acting role, Sans Senate confirmation, ended on January 24.
It’s not clear which inspectors general the White House said they would be fired.
The White House has not confirmed the termination or responded to The Epoch Times’ request for comment. The enquiry sent to Ware asking what further action CIGIE intends to take was also not returned.
Congress established modern offices of inspectors general in the 1970s in response to government waste and fraud scandals. The role of inspectors general is to independently audit, inspect, and investigate government agencies to ensure accountability.
According to the Congressional Research Service, there are currently 74 inspectors general and more than 14,000 employees in their offices.
The reports of the dismissals provoked a series of critical reactions from Democratic lawmakers.
“Yesterday, in the darkness of the night, President Trump fired at least 12 independent inspectors general in key federal agencies throughout the administration,” Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor on Jan. 25.
Schumer called it a “cooling cleanup” and added that the layoffs appear to be in violation of federal law.
In X’s post, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the dismissals “cleaning up independent watchdogs in the middle of the night” and accused Trump of “losing control of his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”
In response to Warren’s criticism, a Trump supporter and lawyer. Sidney Powell, defended the finish.
“Existing IGs are virtually worthless,” Powell wrote in the post X. “They may bring to light some minor things, but achieve nothing. The whole system needs updating!! They are toothless and defend the institution instead of the citizens.”
Inspectors General often serve in multiple administrations, but in his first term, Trump fired five in several months in 2020. In the context of one of the dismissals, Trump said it was within the remit of his executive branch and that he believed inspectors general are “very political” in most cases.
In 2022, Congress enhanced the protection of inspectors general by limiting the president’s powers to replace them and requiring detailed justifications for their removal.
