Trump Tries To Fire Inspectors General, Likely Violating Federal Law
President Donald Trump reportedly tried to fire at least a dozen inspectors general on Friday night, but that action appears to violate a law that Congress recently passed to prevent such a purge.
Reports vary on how many federal inspectors general were handed pink slips. The New York Times reports that “at least 12” of the executive branch agency watchdogs were dismissed by the president on Friday night, while The Washington Post pegs the number at 15 and ABC says at least 17 were canned.
Many of those fired were Trump appointees from his first term in office, the Post noted. It remains unclear whether the administration plans to fill the positions with newly appointed loyalists or to leave the posts vacant.
The firings will likely trigger an immediate legal battle over the president’s authority to send inspectors general packing. A law passed by Congress in 2008 requires the White House to provide 30 days’ notice before removing or replacing an inspector general. An updated version of that law, passed in 2022, requires that a president provide Congress with “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for the
Article from Reason.com
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