President Trump Fires at Least 12 Inspectors General in Federal Government
President Donald Trump fired at least 12 inspectors general in the federal government on Friday, a senior White House official confirmed to NBC News. The move did not affect the inspectors general for the Justice Department or the Department of Homeland Security.
The official cited the need to “clean house of what doesn’t work for us and going forward,” suggesting that the firings were an effort to eliminate remnants of the previous administration.
However, the legal justification for the firings is murky, given that Congress strengthened protections for inspectors general from undue terminations when it amended the Inspector General Act in 2022. The law requires a 30-day notification window between the White House informing Congress of its intent to fire an inspector general and that inspector general being removed from on-duty status. The White House must also provide substantive reasons for why the inspector general is being removed.
The firings were met with swift condemnation from Democrats, who deemed it a “chilling purge” and possibly in violation of federal law. The Inspector General Act requires a 30-day notice period before an inspector general can be fired, which has not been met in this instance.
The firings have also sparked concerns about the president’s desire to eliminate checks and balances on his power, with some fearing that this move could lead to widespread corruption. The heads of the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and the Project on Government Oversight have expressed their concerns about the legality of the firings and the impact on government accountability.
