President Donald Trump fires inspectors general from more than a dozen federal agencies

According to a Trump administration official, President Donald Trump fired over a dozen inspectors general at federal agencies on Friday night, a move that clears the way for him to install his own picks in these independent oversight positions. The inspectors general received an email late Friday from Sergio Gor, the director of the White House Presidential Personnel Office, informing them that their positions were being “immediately terminated” due to “a change in priorities.”

The personnel changes affected multiple departments across the federal government, including the State Department, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Transportation. Trump had previously fired personnel at independent government oversight agencies that he deemed disloyal during his first term. Inspectors general are responsible for investigating and auditing potential misconduct, fraud, waste, or abuse of authority within government agencies or by their personnel, and for issuing reports and recommendations based on their findings. The offices of inspectors general are designed to operate independently.

Partly due to Trump's previous firing of inspectors general, Congress enacted new protections designed to safeguard them. A 2023 law requires the White House to provide a substantive reason for firing any inspector general. These firings have raised concerns among some Republican senators, including Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a well-known “watchdog” of inspectors general, who said that Congress did not receive the 30-day advance notice required by federal law from the White House.

Republican senators, including Majority Leader John Thune, said they had received no advance notice or explanation of the White House's decision. "I have not, so I better reserve comment. I'm sure I will," Thune told CNN. Other Republican senators also expressed concern about the lack of notice and the breadth of the firings. “What I understand is that this is relatively unprecedented to have this happen without notice,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. “I understand that a new president coming in would take a hard look at the inspectors general and the roles that they play within the various agencies, but…I think that the wholesale firing of all of them raises concerns.”

When asked if she would like the White House to provide more information, Murkowski said she believed Grassley would "help them work through this." "There may be a good reason for the firing of inspectors general," Grassley said in a statement provided by his office on Saturday. "We need to know if that is the case. I expect President Trump to further explain. Regardless, the legally required 30-day detailed notice of termination was not provided to Congress." Sen. Susan Collins also expressed concern about the firings, arguing that the dismissal of inspectors general did not align with Trump's stated goal of ending corruption. “I don’t understand why you would fire the people whose job it is to root out waste, fraud and abuse. So, there is a disconnect with what I know to be President Trump’s priorities,” the Maine Republican told reporters.

Sen. Mike Rounds said that the president should have the opportunity to explain his decision. "I honestly can only speculate at this point what that actually means. So I'll wait and see, does that mean that other people are coming in? Are there deputies coming in? Is it targeted at individuals? I just don't have that information," he said. "I just heard briefly about it this morning. I'm sure there will be some discussion about it, but I don't know what his logic is, and I don't know the reason. We'll give him an opportunity to explain."

Democrats have slammed the firings, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling the move a "chilling purge" and warning that the firings could usher in a "golden age of government abuse, and even corruption."