President Trump fired at least 12 inspectors general late on Friday night, three people with knowledge of the matter said, capping a week of dramatic shake-ups of the federal government with a purge of independent watchdog officials created by Congress to root out abuse and illegality within federal agencies.
Two people with knowledge of the matter said on Friday night that 17 inspectors general had been terminated; a third person said on Saturday morning that the figure was at least 12.
“Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse and preventing misconduct,” Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement. “President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”
The firings defied a law that requires presidents to give Congress 30 days’ advance notice before removing any inspector general, along with reasons for the firing. Just two years ago, Congress strengthened that provision by requiring the notice to include a “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for the removal…
But agencies and departments whose watchdogs were said to have been removed included the departments of agriculture, commerce, defense*, education, housing and urban development, interior, labor, transportation and veterans affairs, along with the Environmental Protection Agency and the Small Business Administration.
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A lengthy New Yorker investigation found that, while at VFF, [recently confirmed Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth sent a letter to donors admitting that the organization had less than $1,000 in the bank and more than $400,000 in unpaid bills.
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