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President Trump has fired 17 inspector generals, including the inspector general of the Defense Department.

Some shit you should know before you read: Inspectors general are independent officials tasked with investigating and auditing federal agencies to identify fraud, waste, abuse, and misconduct within the government. Their primary role is to ensure accountability, transparency, and ethical governance by conducting thorough investigations and issuing recommendations based on their findings. Established under the Inspector General Act of 1978, their offices are intended to function autonomously, free from political influence, to maintain impartial oversight of agency operations. To safeguard this independence, federal law requires a president to provide Congress with detailed, case-specific justifications and a 30-day notice before removing an inspector general, ensuring their ability to hold government agencies and personnel accountable without fear of retaliation or interference.

Trump

What’s going on now: In a late-night move, President Donald Trump fired 17 federal inspectors general, including Robert Storch, the Defense Department’s internal watchdog, who had been in the role since December 2022. Storch’s tenure involved high-profile investigations, such as former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s undisclosed hospitalization, the Pentagon’s management of food aid deliveries to Gaza, and the risks associated with US weapons systems sent to Ukraine. His dismissal, along with that of other IGs overseeing agencies like Agriculture, Education, Labor, and State, has sparked widespread criticism, particularly as no detailed justification was provided for the firings, as required by federal law. Many of the removed IGs were Trump’s own appointees, raising further questions about the rationale behind the move.

The move has resulted in criticism from lawmakers was swift and bipartisan, with some accusing Trump of undermining accountability and transparency. Democratic Rep. Gerald Connolly described the firings as “an attack on transparency and accountability, essential ingredients in our democratic form of government,” while Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called it a “chilling purge” and claimed, “These firings are Donald Trump’s way of telling us he is terrified of accountability and is hostile to facts and to transparency.”

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley also expressed concern, saying, “There may be a good reason the IGs were fired, but the 30-day detailed notice of removal that the law demands was not provided to Congress.”

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