Reuters reports: Trump fires 17 independent inspectors general at federal agencies, source says.
U.S. President Donald Trump fired 17 independent watchdogs at multiple government agencies on Friday, a person with knowledge of the matter said, eliminating a critical oversight component and clearing the way to replace them with loyalists.
The inspectors general at agencies including the departments of state, defense and transportation were notified by emails from the White House personnel director that they had been terminated immediately, the source said on condition of anonymity.
The dismissals appeared to violate federal law, which requires the president to give both houses of Congress reasons for the dismissals 30 days in advance.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
I say “at least” in the headline because the headlines already range from 12 to 14 to now 17. As such, the number could be higher. While I understand the journalistic practice of hedging, it seems pretty clear that if the law requires a 30-day notice to Congress this is an illegal move.
Friday’s dismissals spared the Department of Justice inspector general, Michael Horowitz, according to the New York Times. The Washington Post, which was first to report the dismissals, said most were appointees from Trump’s 2017-2021 first term.
[…]
an inspector general can serve under multiple presidents.
[…]
In 2022, Congress strengthened protections for inspectors general, making it harder to replace them with hand-picked officials and requiring additional explanations from a president for their removal.
We may all recall Trump’s “joke” about being a dictator on day one, but not after. Well, it seems worth pointing out that he has been very much issuing a lot of dictates for his first week. Like his EO to ban birthright citizenship, which was an attempt to rewrite the Constitution, firing these IGs challenges the legal order to stop him. Rather than behaving like a normal president and recognizing that there are boundaries, he doesn’t want to hear about such niceties (seeing that as a mistake he made the first time around).
Indeed, if we look at the new administration’s approach to governance, at least in its first week, it comes across not as putting forth policies and looking to work through Congress to enact them, but rather challenging the rest of government to stop whatever it is he wants to do.
Before someone says it, yes, presidents often push at the boundaries. But usually, they pick their spots. Trump is pushing boundaries with practically everything he is doing.
And even in areas where there is likely no legal boundary being crossed, we see Trump imposing his will on the government as much as possible. Things like the hiring freeze (which is affecting real people), or the halt of certain NIH activities fit this category.
Trump 2.0 is using both legal and almost certainly illegal moves to govern in as dictatorial a fashion as he can get away with. He is literally trying to dictate as much as he can. As, such, those who bought the notion that he was “just joking” and who thought that all of us nervous nellies who didn’t like that kind of rhetoric were overreacting need to reassess.
It is worth noting that Trump’s actions are getting him exactly what he wants, the perception that he is powerful. For example, via David Litt at The Contrarian:
It’s easy to seem like a comms genius during a presidential honeymoon, but so far, Trump’s scattershot strategy is paying off. One CBS article about his immigration crackdown said Trump “invoked muscular presidential powers,” which is a bit like saying Jeffrey Dahmer, “displayed omnivorous taste.” And that’s the kind of coverage Trump wants. MAGA diehards are pumped up. Swing voters who don’t like everything about Trump still see him as strong and decisive. The half of the country that voted against Trump is frightened.
While I have not kept a catalog, I have seen a number of similar press descriptions of Trump’s actions. It feeds his strongman image.
Let’s remember that SCOTUS gave the president wide immunity in terms of pursuing his official duties and that all it takes is a couple of Aileen Cannon’s to allow any number of these orders to be upheld.
The question at this point is not whether Trump will govern like a dictator. The question is how effective will be be at it?
I will reshare this graph, which demonstrates a very different approach to governing.
Again, yes, EOs are a thing all presidents issue EOs. Some of them have more teeth than others, and many are fairly anodyne. I even accept that given presidents will issue EOs to countermand those of their predecessors. But there is a clear strategy of flooding the zone with 26 on the first day, especially given the flood of actions that have continued all week.
At a minimum, the firing of the IGs is another piece of a grim puzzle.
