President Donald Trump defended his firing of at least a dozen inspectors general at federal agencies, a sudden late-night purge of independent officials assigned to root out mismanagement and illegal acts in the US government.
“It’s a very common thing to do,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Florida following a tour of disaster areas and a Las Vegas rally.
Firing inspectors general is in fact not common and the law requires that Congress be given 30 days’ notice and detailed reasons for the dismissals. Their terms aren’t synchronized to presidential election cycles so they can maintain their independence.
Trump spared Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz in the mass firing late Friday, first reported by The Washington Post. He singled out Horowitz for praise for his report on former FBI Director James Comey. Comey was fired early in Trump’s first term over his investigation of claims that Trump and Russia colluded to interfere in the 2016 election.
“Michael Horowitz we’re keeping,” Trump said. “Michael Horowitz wrote the definitive report on James Comey and the FBI and really got that going.”
Trump added that “some people thought” the other inspectors’ work wasn’t satisfactory.
Asked if he planned to put loyalists in those roles, Trump said “not my people, they’re not my people. I don’t know anybody that would do that.”
Trump’s group dismissal capped a week in which he used executive power to fundamentally change US policies and practices.
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