Two former federal prosecutors took to CNN on Monday to call into question President Donald Trump's latest controversial move: purging more than a dozen inspectors general, tasked with acting as a watchdog for the federal government.
Trump fired at least 17 independent watchdogs late Friday at multiple federal agencies — a move even some allies have opposed. The move will allow him to insert his own choices for the roles, CNN reported.
The inspectors general received an email from Sergio Gor, head of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, informing them that the administration's “changing priorities” meant their positions were “terminated” effective immediately, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. The purge reportedly impacted the departments of State, Energy, Interior, Defense and Transportation.
"You're watching in real-time as Donald Trump's gotten a lot smarter about how to make the government work for him," Alyssa Farah Griffin, former White House communications director for the first Trump administration, told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Monday night.
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Trump had a "learning curve" his first go-around and didn't realize the obstacles he'd encounter. Not so, this time. This time, his team is aware of those limits — and plans to push them.
"The reality is, where is the check? Where is the balance? Republicans have the House, the Senate and the White House," she added.
Former federal prosecutors Jennifer Rodgers and Jeffrey Toobin chimed in with their opinions as well — and minced no words.
"This is a huge disaster," said Rodgers. "Inspectors general are the principal internal watchdog of the executive branch of government."
These are apolitical people who search for fraud, waste, abuse and corruption.
"And he's taken them out. Why? Because he doesn't want scrutiny on what he and the agency heads he's putting in place are going to be doing for the next four years. And that's a disaster," she added.
Rodgers said the firings were "illegal" and said the Senate must push back on them. To boot, Trump's new picks will need heavy scrutiny, she said.
"They really need to look at these nominees and I think this is where they need to draw their line," she concluded.
Toobin jumped in immediately after to reiterate Rodgers' point.
"You just sort of rushed past 'and it's illegal.' You can't fire inspectors general the way that Trump did. The law is quite clear," he said.
While presidents can remove an inspector general, there are legal requirements, including providing 30 days' notice to Congress before doing so. Additionally, the president must offer a "substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons" for the removal."
"All these things may wind up in court but I think it's quite clear that the approach here of the administration is simply to just flood the zone, do as many of these kinds of things as possible," he said.
Watch the clip below or at this link.