President Donald Trump fired 17 inspectors general on Friday in a late-night purge of the internal government watchdogs that monitor federal agencies.
The measure didn’t remove Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, according to The New York Times.
One of the fired officials told The Post, “It’s a widespread massacre.”
“Whoever Trump puts in now will be viewed as loyalists, and that undermines the entire system,” the official added.
The Washington Post previously reported on the firings - which are legally questionable. Trump’s critics were quick to slam the firings, with Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren saying in a social media post, “Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse and preventing misconduct.”
“President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption,” she added.
Those working on the Trump transition had indicated that firings were likely to take place. Towards the end of his last term in office, in early 2020, Trump fired five inspectors general from their posts.
Trump was handling the coronavirus pandemic at the time even as he worked to reshape the government to remove those he viewed as trying to work against him. One of them was Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the U.S. intelligence community, who handled the whistleblower complaint that prompted Trump’s first impeachment for pressuring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open an investigation into then-former Vice President Joe Biden.
Horowitz delivered a report to the Department of Justice in late 2019 regarding the FBI investigation into possible connections between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. He found that the FBI had a basis for starting the probe, but at the same time, he criticized the warrant application to monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
He added that then-FBI Director James Comey had violated department policy by writing secret memos regarding his meetings with Trump that subsequently reached the public eye. The Department of Justice chose not to prosecute Comey, to the fury of Trump, who later fired him.
The firings of the inspectors open up the opportunity for Trump to install loyalists in positions that are supposed to identify fraud, waste and abuse.
The inspectors general were made aware of the firings by emails from the White House personnel director, telling them that they had been terminated immediately, people familiar with the measures told The Post.
The removals seemed to violate federal law, which requires Congress to be notified 30 days before the firing of any inspector general confirmed by the Senate.
Some of the departments and agencies affected by the firings include the departments of State, Defense, Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, Transportation, Interior, Energy, Commerce and Agriculture, in addition to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Small Business Administration, and the Social Security Administration, according to The Post.
Most of those who were removed were appointees by Trump from his first term in the White House. Horowitz was appointed by President Barack Obama.
One inspector general told the paper the Trump administration “does not want anyone in this role who is going to be independent.”
“IGs have done exactly what the president says he wants: to fight fraud waste and abuse and make the government more effective,” the official added. “Firing this many of us makes no sense. It is counter to those goals.”
