Trump Sacks 12 Internal Govt Watchdogs

President Donald Trump sacked at least a dozen internal government watchdogs late Friday, US media reported, the latest shake-up of the Republican’s second term after less than a week back in office.

The White House personnel director’s emails, citing unnamed people with access to the information, were sent to independent inspectors general of at least 12 federal agencies, according to The Washington Post.

In most cases, inspectors are in charge of identifying and stopping abuse, waste, and fraud committed by government employees.

They are responsible for investigating violations of laws, regulations and ethical standards by employees, and conducting audits of contracts, finances and staff performance.

Among the federal agencies affected by the ousters were the Departments of Defence, state, interior and energy, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency and Social Security Administration, the Post said.

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“It’s a widespread massacre”, said one of the fired inspectors general, according to the Post. “Whoever Trump puts in now will be viewed as loyalists, and that undermines the entire system”.

Trump appointed the majority of those who were fired, according to the newspaper.

The New York Times, citing three unnamed people with knowledge of the dismissals, said 17 inspectors general were fired, and one source said the Justice Department’s watchdog was not affected.

The firings were described as “a purge… in the middle of the night,” according to Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

“Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse, and preventing misconduct”, she said in a post on social media platform X.

“President Trump is removing the barriers to widespread corruption,” he said.

On Tuesday, his first full day in power, Trump announced plans to weed out around 1, 000 opponents from the US government.

The 78-year-old Republican began his second term with a flurry of executive actions aimed at overhauling government policies on immigration, citizenship, gender, diversity and climate — some of which are being challenged in the courts.

Source: Channels TV