Leaders of the bipartisan Senate Judiciary Committee are raising alarms about President Donald Trump’s decision to fire more than a dozen inspectors general, sending a new letter asking for further details on their dismissal.
The joint request from Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) notes that the White House did not submit the required 30-day notice to Congress to dismiss inspectors general. The senators are requesting further information on the 18 watchdog dismissals, which occurred late on Friday, and the names of officials who will act in their places.
“This is a matter of public and congressional accountability and ensuring the public’s confidence in the Inspector General community, a sentiment shared more broadly by other Members of Congress,” the senators wrote to Trump. “IGs are critical to rooting out waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct within the Executive Branch bureaucracy, which you have publicly made clear you are also intent on doing.”
Durbin and Grassley, a leading advocate for whistleblower issues, wrote that “the law must be followed” and Congress must be given further information to ensure that the inspectors general were fired for legitimate reasons.
