Stop the purge of inspectors general
The president learned “a pretty big lesson.” That was the assessment of Senator Susan Collins of Maine in early February after she voted along with the vast majority of her Republican colleagues to acquit the president of the impeachment charges against him.
But if President Trump has learned any lesson from his acquittal this year by the Senate, it’s that Collins and almost all her Republican colleagues lack the backbone to punish him for abusing the powers of his office, whether it takes shape as holding up foreign aid for personal political favors or as firing perceived enemies. Emboldened, rather than chastened, Trump is now purging the federal government of the independent inspectors general who hold the executive branch accountable for carrying out the duties of public service with integrity and for acting within the confines of the law.
With Friday night’s firing of Steve A. Linick, the State Department’s inspector general, the Trump administration is building a veritable trophy wall decorated with the heads of government watchdogs. Until congressional leaders work up the nerve to respond with something stronger than finger-wagging, there’s no reason to think this abuse of presidential power will stop.
Since his impeachment acquittal by the Senate, President Trump has removed four inspectors general, including one who shepherded the whistle-blower complaint that led to his impeachment, one who published a report documenting severe shortages of COVID-19 test kits and masks in hospitals nationwide, and one who was set to oversee the disbursement of $2.2 trillion stimulus funds to businesses around the country. Now, with the removal of Linick, who had recently launched an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s alleged unauthorized use of a government employee for personal errands including dog-walking and who had nearly completed an investigation into Pompeo’s skirting of Congress to complete an $8 billion arms deal last year with Saudi Arabia, the president has roused even the tepid Senator Collins. She noted that the president has probably broken a 2008 law by failing to justify to Congress 30 days in advance his intention to remove an inspector general. But the objections of Collins and her colleagues will ring hollow unless Congress is willing to hold the White House truly accountable for its attack on watchdogs rather than merely pay lip service to their ostensible independence.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/stop-the-purge-of-inspectors-general/ar-BB14g3nG?ocid=msn360
