MaddowBlog-Why the White House's systemic campaign against inspectors general matters

[LetMyPeopleVote]

At Donald Trump’s behest, the system of inspectors general is now effectively broken, which necessarily opens the door to more corruption.

Inspectors general tend not to get a lot of attention, but with systematic firings, Trump has effectively shattered the IG system.

The result will be more corruption, more mismanagement, more ethical lapses, and more departments acting outside of legal limits. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-10-22T20:05:44.872Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-houses-systemic-campaign-inspectors-general-matters-rcna239190

On the first Friday night of his second term, Donald Trump took an indefensible step: The president fired at least 18 inspectors general who were responsible for rooting out corruption, ethical lapses and mismanagement in federal agencies throughout the government. The Republican didn’t appear to have the legal authority to take such steps, but he did it anyway.

Nine months later, Trump’s purge against inspectors general is still ongoing. The New York Times reported:

Parisa Salehi was the kind of internal watchdog who had earned a strong reputation for digging up fraud, waste and abuse during her 15 years in government service. She had risen through the ranks at inspectors general offices at the State Department and U.S.A.I.D., eventually taking over internal investigations at the Export-Import Bank of the United States, where her office reported saving tens of millions of dollars. But last week, she got a notice that President Trump had fired her, effective immediately.

.....It’s why the president has fired so many of these inspectors general, why he has left so many inspectors general offices vacant throughout the federal government, and in some instances, even why he has nominated controversial loyalists to serve in some key offices.

There are still some inspectors general doing their jobs, but given recent events, they no doubt realize that their careers are subject to the whims of a president who has already fired many of their peers without cause.

The result is a system of inspectors general that is now effectively broken, which necessarily opens the door to more corruption, more mismanagement, more ethical lapses and more departments acting outside of legal limits.