White House responds to trend of firing inspectors general – By Erick Tucker & Matthew Daly (The Associated Press) / May 28
WASHINGTON — The White House said that President Donald Trump followed the law when he fired multiple inspectors general in the last two months, but the administration offered no new details about why they were let go.
A White House letter was issued Tuesday in response to concerns from a prominent Republican senator over Trump’s recent upheaval of the inspector general community. The letter is unlikely to quell outrage from Democrats and good-government groups who fear the president is moving to dismantle a post-Watergate network of watchdogs meant to root out corruption, fraud and other problems inside federal agencies.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa — a longtime, self-appointed defender of inspectors general and congressional oversight — requested that the White House explain the basis for the firings in April and May of the inspectors general for the intelligence community and the State Department.
The response Tuesday from White House counsel Pat Cipollone does not provide those details, instead making the points that Trump has the authority to remove inspectors general, that he appropriately alerted Congress and that he selected qualified officials as replacements.
“When the President loses confidence in an inspector general, he will exercise his constitutional right and duty to remove that officer — as did President Reagan when he removed inspectors general upon taking office and as did President Obama when he was in office,” Cipollone wrote.
Continue to article: https://www.federaltimes.com/federal-oversight/watchdogs/2020/05/27/white-house-responds-to-trend-of-firing-inspectors-general/
