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Trump purges at least a dozen inspectors general overnight

The Trump administration fired at least a dozen federal watchdogs late Friday evening, a move that is potentially illegal and could face challenges in court.

Speaking from the Senate floor on Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the oversight body’s dismissal a “horrific purge.”

“These impeachments are Donald Trump’s way of telling us he is terrified of accountability and hostile to facts and transparency,” said Schumer, a Democrat from New York.

The White House did not confirm the dismissals and did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

The affected inspectors general received emails from the presidential chief of staff on Friday night informing them that “due to changing priorities, your position as inspector general has been terminated… effective immediately,” according to CBS News, the BBC’s partner in the US.

The group of fired monitors includes the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services and the inspector general of the Small Business Administration, CBS said.

There were competing lists of fired monitors, according to the New York Times. The establishment of oversight bodies in the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, has reportedly been considered.

Congress created inspectors general in the wake of the Watergate scandal, as part of a wave of reforms aimed at reducing corruption, waste and fraud. Independent oversight bodies—which operate within federal agencies but are not subject to the control of the head of those agencies—are intended to serve as a watchdog against mismanagement and abuse of power.

Although they are appointed by the president, they are expected to be nonpartisan.

The firings would be a violation of a law that requires the White House to give Congress 30 days’ notice and case-specific information before firing a federal inspector general.

Hannibal Ware, Inspector General of the Small Business Administration and Chairman of the Cross-Agency Oversight Board, sent a letter to Sergio Gore, head of the White House Office of Presidential Staff, indicating that the dismissals were invalid.

“I recommend that you contact the White House regarding your intended course of action,” Ware wrote. “At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to remove the President-appointed, Senate-confirmed Inspectors General.”

Democrats were quick to criticize the president for this move.

Schumer said the move was a “preview of the illegal approach” taken by Trump and his administration.

Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, called the impeachments a “Friday night coup” and “an attack on transparency and accountability.”

Some Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, have also expressed concern about the purge.

“I don’t understand why one would fire individuals whose job it is to eliminate waste, fraud and abuse,” Collins said at the Capitol on Saturday. “I don’t understand it.”

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2025-01-25 20:10:00

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