President Jimmy Carter created the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in 1978 as a kind of apology to the American people for Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Not one of those “sorry that happened, but let’s forget about it” apologies, but a “your government really messed up, and we’re going to do better” kind of apology.
And in the past couple months, President Trump has spit in the face of the American public multiple times as he continues to remove inspectors general without warning.
The Office of the Inspector General was created to act as independent oversight for government departments (Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, etc.). Each department’s inspector general (IG) investigates complaints of misconduct, fraud or waste. Acting IGs are appointed by presidents but are meant to be neutral parties — accountable first and foremost to the American people.
Trump has fired, removed or demoted five IGs, seemingly in retaliation. April 3: Michael Atkinson, IG for the intelligence community, who informed Congress about the whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment. April 7: DOD IG Glenn Fine was removed after being appointed to lead the committee overseeing the disbursal of $2 trillion in coronavirus relief. May 1: DHHS IG Christi Grimm was fired after an OIG report identified medical supply and staff shortages in the midst of the pandemic. May 15: Trump dismissed State Department acting IG Steve Linick and demoted DOT acting IG Mitch Behm. Linick was investigating Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for ordering government staff to run errands for him as well as investigating the sale of $8 million worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia over Congress’ objections. Behm was investigating Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao — wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — for giving preferential treatment to Kentucky.
There are multiple problems with this slew of firings, the least of which is that four of the five took place on a Friday night. Newsrooms across the nation have fewer reporters working on Fridays and during the evenings in general. Not to mention, many publications don’t have Saturday papers, and many readers have Sunday-only subscriptions. By waiting for Friday nights, Trump ensures his actions get the least amount of press possible to keep the American public uninformed.
More problematic: Each removal happened without the mandated 30-day prior notice to Congress and without any more reasoning than Trump’s “lack of confidence” in the acting IG. So the removals are both unlawful and unjustified.
Most problematic: Trump is blatantly attacking the entities meant to prevent and correct government corruption. We’ve seen evidence of Trump’s cronyism in the past, but he’s taken it to a whole new level. Now, to protect his supporters, he’s dismantling and undermining the very infrastructure meant to prevent another Watergate.
This obvious assault on government accountability isn’t something we can let be swept under the rug.
Morgantown Area News
'Friday, November 15, 2024'
