‘Arrogance is a hell of a drug’: Newspaper slams Trump for purging oversight to ‘reject all accountability’

On Monday, the New York Daily News editorial board excoriated President Donald Trump for his latest move to fire an inspector general, and "reject all accountability" for the executive branch.

"Friday, he sacked State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, reportedly over two separate probes of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo: an allegation that he used official staff for personal errands, such as dog-walking, and a far more serious one," wrote the board. "According to Rep. Eliot Engel, who helms the House Foreign Affairs Committee, the IG was investigating 'Trump’s phony declaration of an emergency so he could send weapons to Saudi Arabia.'"

"In a pro forma statement explaining the removal, Trump announced that he had 'lost confidence' in Linick," wrote the board. "Sen. Chuck Grassley demanded a more detailed explanation. That’s adorable; Republican Grassley raised similar objections two months ago over the dismissal of intelligence community IG Michael Atkinson, who had approved the Ukraine whistleblower complaint that led to Trump’s impeachment. Trump ignored Grassley then, and he’s sure to ignore him again. Arrogance is a hell of a drug."

"For those keeping score, Trump recently replaced the Health and Human Services Department’s deputy IG after a scathing report showing how hospitals were ill-equipped to conduct coronavirus testing, and sacked the Pentagon IG, who was scheduled to oversee spending on the $2 trillion coronavirus relief package," concluded the board. "The executive has run amok. What will Congress do about it?"

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