Трамп увольняет "практически бесполезных" генеральных инспекторов, Лиз Уоррен в бешенстве из-за "чистки

President Donald Trump fired at least a dozen 'independent’ watchdogs known as inspectors general, who oversee government agencies – prompting immediate shrieking from the usual suspects who insist that the move is illegal.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The ousters are likely to be one of Trump’s first major court battles since taking office – with at least one of the fired inspectors general, Cardell Richardson Sr. of the State Department – telling staff he’ll ignore Trump and show up to work on Monday, arguing that the firings are illegal, Politico reports, citing an anonymous source.

Other fired inspectors general include those at State, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Labor and Defense, the Small Business Administration, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The inspectors general at the Department of Justice, Office of Personnel Management, the Federal Communications Commission, the Export-Import Bank and the Department of Homeland Security remain in place, according to the person.

The inspectors general were dismissed via emails from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, with no notice sent to lawmakers on Capitol Hill, who have pledged bipartisan support for the watchdogs, in advance of the firings, the person said. The emails gave no substantive explanation for the dismissals, with at least one citing “changing priorities” for the move, the person added. -Politico

Speaking Saturday night aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters that he didn’t know the inspectors general who were fired, but that „some people thought that some were unfair, or some were not doing the job,” and that the firings were „a very common thing to do.”

When he was asked if he planned to install loyalists in their place, Trump said he didn’t „know anybody that would do that,” adding „We’ll put people in there that will be very good.”

As the Epoch Times notes further, Hannibal Ware, the inspector general for the Small Business Administration (SBA) and chairperson of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE), said in a Jan. 24 letter sent to Sergio Gor, director of presidential personnel at the White House, objecting to a series of dismissal emails Gor had sent to a number of inspector generals—including to Ware.

“I am writing in response to your email sent to me and other Inspectors General earlier this evening wherein you informed each of us that ‘due to changing priorities, your position as Inspector General … is terminated, effective immediately,’” Ware wrote in the letter to Gor.

“At this point, we do not believe the actions taken are legally sufficient to dismiss Presidentially Appointed, Senate Confirmed Inspectors General,” Ware wrote.

Ware said that the Inspector General Act of 1978 requires the president to notify Congress at least 30 days in advance of dismissal of an inspector general and that “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for such terminations must be provided.

Ware was confirmed to his role by the Senate in 2018. In 2024, President Joe Biden appointed Ware to also lead the Office of the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration. Ware’s eligibility to serve in the latter acting role, sans Senate confirmation, expired on Jan. 24.

It’s unclear which inspectors general were told by the White House they are being fired.

The White House has not confirmed the terminations and did not respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times. An inquiry sent to Ware asking what further action the CIGIE is planning to take was also not returned.

Congress established modern-era offices of inspectors general in response to government waste and fraud scandals in the 1970s. The role of inspectors general is to independently audit, inspect, and investigate government agencies to ensure accountability.

There are currently 74 inspectors general and more than 14,000 employees within their offices, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Reports of the dismissals sparked a number of critical reactions on the part of Democratic lawmakers.

“Yesterday, in the dark of night, President Trump fired at least 12 independent Inspectors General at important federal agencies across the administration,” Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor on Jan. 25.

Schumer called it a “chilling purge” and added that the dismissals appear to be in violation of federal law.

In a post on X, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called the dismissals a “purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night” and accused Trump of “dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”

It’s a purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night.

Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct.

President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption. https://t.co/mZNGzche7Y

— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) January 25, 2025

Responding to Warren’s criticism, Trump supporter and attorney. Sidney Powell, defended the terminations.

Existing IGs are virtually worthless. They may bring a few minor things to light but accomplish next to nothing. The whole system needs to be revamped They are toothless and protect the institution instead of the citizens. @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/WsFU3rLURY

— Sidney Powell Attorney & Author (@SidneyPowell1) January 25, 2025

“Existing IGs are virtually worthless,” Powell wrote in a post on X. “They may bring a few minor things to light but accomplish next to nothing. The whole system needs to be revamped!! They are toothless and protect the institution instead of the citizens.”

Inspectors general often serve across multiple administrations, but during his first term, Trump fired five over the course of several months in 2020. In context of one of the dismissals, Trump said that it was within his executive authority to do so and that he believed inspectors general were in most cases “very political.”

In 2022, Congress enhanced protections for inspectors general, limiting presidential authority to replace them and requiring detailed justifications for their removal.