Late on Friday, on the fifth day of the fascist regime, Donald Trump fired 15 inspectors general. It’s not an unprecedented move. President George Herbert Walker Bush attempted to do the same thing in 1989 but dropped the effort after Congress flipped out. Ronald Reagan fired 16 Inspectors General when he took office in 1981, but hired many of them back after Congress objected. Those are the only examples of wholesale dismissals since the Congress passed the Inspector General Act of 1978. President Barack Obama fired the Inspector General of the Corporation for National and Community Service after he appeared “confused, disoriented, unable to answer questions and exhibited other behavior that led the Board to question his capacity to serve.” Other than these examples, Inspectors General have historically been secure in their jobs. That is, until the last year of Trump’s first term in office.
Even as the nation continues to find itself in the throes of the coronavirus pandemic that has led to nearly 90,000 deaths and ravaged the U.S. economy, President Trump has taken aim at the federal government’s internal watchdogs, removing or replacing the top officials in offices tasked with conducting oversight of their respective agencies.
In a span of six weeks, Mr. Trump has removed five officials from posts leading their respective agencies’ inspector general offices, three of whom were working in an acting capacity.
Most of these removals were clear examples of retaliation for reports or actions that reflected poorly on Trump’s leadership. And this was a clear departure from precedent. This wasn’t a simple matter of wanting to appoint loyalists. It was an effort to punish those who told the truth and did their jobs. And this time, unlike with Reagan and Poppy Bush, Trump is going to get away with replacing all the IGs. The people that take those positions will be chosen specifically because Trump can rely on them not to tell the truth and do their jobs. In other words, no oversight. The entire purpose of the Inspector General Act of 1978 will be gutted.
And, just so we’re clear. What Trump is doing here isn’t legal.
The dismissals appeared to violate federal law, which requires Congress to receive 30 days’ notice of any intent to fire a Senate-confirmed inspector general. The legal uncertainty could create awkward encounters on Monday, when several watchdogs who were told they were fired planned to show up in their offices to work anyway.
Trump did not provide Congress with 30 days of notice. But since the Supreme Court has ruled that a president cannot commit a crime while working in his or her official capacity, the only way Trump can be punished is through impeachment and removal from office. There is zero chance that the Republicans in Congress will take that step, so the 30-day notice requirement isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on.
