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In a significant move during his first week in office, President Trump removed 17 Inspectors General from their positions in what some are calling a Friday night purge. According to Real Clear Politics journalist Susan Crabtree, many of these IGs, despite their role in identifying and addressing waste and abuse, had developed a reputation for politically motivated reporting and whitewashing investigations.
Notable among those retained was Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari Jr., who is currently leading multiple investigations into Secret Service failures connected to two attempted assassination attempts on President Trump.
The dismissals prompted immediate pushback from a federal inspectors general group, which dispatched a letter to the White House challenging the legality of the mass removals. Mike Ware, one of the dismissed IGs, signed the letter and advised the White House to seek legal counsel.
Trump fired 17 independent watchdogs at multiple government agencies Friday, eliminating a critical oversight component & clearing the way to replace them with loyalists.
Depts of state, defense, transportation notified by emails from the WH.
Trump by-passed 30-day notice. pic.twitter.com/bXHxUkUzGR— Blanche Victoria (@tammytabby) January 25, 2025
The group’s opposition centers on a 2022 law, passed by a Democrat-controlled Congress, requiring presidents to provide Congress with 30 days’ notice and explanation before removing IGs. However, questions exist about the law’s constitutionality, given that IGs are presidential appointees and executive branch employees.
This isn’t the first time a president has dismissed an Inspector General. During Barack Obama’s presidency, a similar situation occurred without significant media scrutiny. In 2009, Obama terminated Inspector General Gerald Walpin after he uncovered millions in misappropriated AmeriCorps funds.
The investigation implicated Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, a prominent Obama supporter, who allegedly misused AmeriCorps grants for personal benefits, including having volunteers perform political activities, personal errands, and car washing.
“President Barack Obama says he has lost confidence in the inspector general who investigates AmeriCorps and other national service programs and has told Congress he is removing him from the position.
Trump fires 17 government watchdogs at various federal agencies#Trump pic.twitter.com/W3chWN06pS
— B.C. Begley (@BC_News1) January 27, 2025
Obama’s move follows an investigation by IG Gerald Walpin of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who is an Obama supporter and former NBA basketball star, into the misuse of federal grants by a nonprofit education group that Johnson headed…
The president didn’t offer any more explanation, but White House Counsel Gregory Craig, in a letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, cited the U.S. attorney’s criticism of Walpin to an integrity committee for inspectors general…
…Grassley said Walpin had identified millions of dollars in AmeriCorps funds that were wasted or misspent and ‘it appears he has been doing a good job.'”
Commentator Glenn Reynolds observed at the time that such actions would have sparked major controversy under a Republican administration. Additionally, journalist Michelle Malkin’s investigation revealed potential connections to then-First Lady Michelle Obama.