President Donald Trump fired at least a dozen internal government watchdogs late Friday, US media reported, the latest change in the Republican’s second term after less than a week in office.
Independent inspectors general of at least 12 federal agencies were informed of their immediate dismissal via email from the White House personnel director, The Washington Post reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the action.
Inspectors general have an oversight role to detect and prevent fraud, waste and abuse by government employees.
They are responsible for investigating violations of laws, regulations and ethical standards by employees, and auditing contracts, finances and employee performance.
The Post said federal agencies affected by the removal included the Departments of Defense, State, Interior and Energy, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and the Social Security Administration.
“This is a widespread genocide,” one of the dismissed inspectors general said, according to the Post. “Whoever Trump puts in place now will be seen as loyalists, and that undermines the whole system.”
The newspaper said most of those fired were appointed by Trump during his first term.
The New York Times, citing three unnamed people with knowledge of the dismissals, said 17 inspectors general had been dismissed, and a source said Justice Department oversight was not affected.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts called the shootings a “midnight purge.”
“Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct,” he said in a post on social media platform X.
“President Trump is eroding his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”
On Tuesday, his first full day in power, Trump announced plans to expel nearly 1,000 opponents from the US government.
The 78-year-old Republican began his second term with a series of executive actions aimed at reforming government policies on immigration, citizenship, gender, diversity and climate – some of which are being challenged in the courts.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
