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president donald trump fired 17 independent watchdogs from various federal agencies late Friday, a Trump administration official confirmed to Fox News, as he continues to reshape the government at a breakneck pace.
Trump fired agency inspectors general at the Department of Defense, the State Department, the Energy Department, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Department of Veterans Affairs and more, notifying them via email from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, the Washington Post first reported. .
“It’s a widespread massacre,” one of the terminated inspectors general told the Post. “Whoever Trump brings in now will be seen as loyalists, and that undermines the whole system.”
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Trump’s action may violate federal law that requires the president to give Congress 30 days notice of his intention to fire any independent dog, the Associated Press reported. .
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President Donald Trump holds outgoing President Joe Biden’s letter as he signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on January 20, 2025. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
“There may be a good reason the IGs were fired. We need to know, if so,” Grassley said in a statement. “I would like further explanation from President Trump. Regardless, the detailed 30-day notice of removal required by law was not provided to Congress.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Inspectors general of federal agencies are called upon to investigate government waste, fraud and abuse. They work independently and can serve in multiple administrations.
The mass firing is Trump’s latest attempt to force the federal bureaucracy into submission after he shuttered diversity, equity and inclusion programs, rescinded job offers and sidelined more than 150 national security and foreign policy officials. Trump began his second term with the intention of purging any opponents of his agenda from the government and replacing them with officials who would carry out his orders without hesitation.
Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz testifies to Congress. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Among those spared Trump’s wrath was Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz, the New York Times reported. Horowitz led the investigation of the FBI Russian Collusion Probethat exposed at least 17 “significant inaccuracies and omissions” in the FBI’s request for a FISA warrant in the Hurricane Crossfire investigation.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, criticized Trump’s firings, calling them a “purge of independent watchdogs in the middle of the night.”
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa., said the president’s firing of more than a dozen inspectors general did not comply with federal law requiring him to notify Congress with 30 days notice. (ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)
“President Trump is dismantling the checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption,” Warren posted on X.
During his first term, Trump fired five inspectors general in less than two months in 2020. This included the State Department, whose inspector general had played a role in the president’s impeachment process.
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Last year, Trump’s predecessor, Joe Biden, fired the inspector general of the US Railroad Retirement Board, after an investigation found the official had created a hostile work environment.
In 2022, Congress passed reforms that strengthened inspectors general’s protections and made it harder to replace them with political appointees, and required the president to explain their removal.
Reuters contributed to this report.
