Bipartisan leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee wrote a letter to President Trump on Tuesday demanding an explanation for the president’s reported firing of 18 Federal agency inspectors general (IGs) on Jan. 24.
In total, 22 members of the committee – including chairman Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., asked Trump to provide a “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for the firing of each agency IG.
According to the Inspector General Act passed in 1978, IGs are responsible for detecting and preventing fraud, abuse, and waste in agency programs, and promoting efficiency and effectiveness.
“This is a matter of public and congressional accountability,” the letter reads. “IGs are critical to rooting out waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct within the Executive Branch bureaucracy, which you have made clear you are also intent on doing.”
The letter specified that IGs are not immune to dismissals and can be removed by the President, but also emphasized that “the law must be followed.”
In 2022, Congress amended the 1978 law and required a president to give Congress a 30-day notice before removing an agency IG. The law also required a president to provide “substantial rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for firing an IG as requested in the letter.
President Trump did not give this notice or rationale to Congress when he dismissed the IGs late on Jan. 24.
“The communication to Congress must contain more than just broad and vague statements, rather it must include sufficient facts and details to ensure Congress and the public that the termination is due to real concerns about the Inspector Generals ability to carry out their mission,” the letter reads.
The bipartisan group also requested the names of each official who will serve as acting inspector generals at the 18 agencies
“Work quickly to nominate qualified and non-partisan individuals to serve in these open positions,” the letter reads.
