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WASHINGTON (CN) — Eight former inspectors general who President Donald Trump fired on Jan. 24 sued administration officials on Wednesday to get their jobs back, arguing that Trump illegally fired the nonpartisan watchdogs.
Trump fired a total of 17 inspectors general four days into his second term as part of a broader federal government purge that also included terminations at the National Labor Relations Board and the Office of Special Counsel.
The inspectors general, appointed to the Departments of Defense, State, Education, Labor, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services and the Small Business Administration, filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
They asked U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, a Barack Obama appointee, to rule their dismissal illegal and reinstate them to their positions.
Inspectors general fill a key oversight role in the federal government, tasked with preventing waste, fraud and abuse at their respective agencies through regular audits and investigations.
They point to a 2022 federal law, the bipartisan Securing Inspector General Independence Act, which requires the president to notify Congress 30 days in advance of any termination action and provide substantive rationale for the removal. Trump’s two-sentence email the night of Jan. 24 met neither condition, the plaintiffs claim.
Hannibal “Mike” Ware, who chaired the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency and was inspector general for the Small Business Administration called the mass firings a direct violation of that law.
“Its across the federal government work every day on behalf of American taxpayers to combat waste, fraud and abuse in the programs and operations of their agencies,” he said in a Jan. 25 statement. “They ensure veterans receive the healthcare they deserve; service members are safe in the field; disaster aid reaches those for whom it is intended; and farmers receive the assistance they require. The work of Its is how Congress ensures accountability, transparency and integrity in federal agencies.”
Despite the “obvious illegality,” the inspectors general say the heads of their respective agencies carried out the terminations, cutting access to their government-issued emails, computers, phones and identification cards. They also barred the inspectors general from physically entering the buildings they work in.
Trump defended the move, claiming on Jan. 25 that the mass terminations were a “very common thing to do.” He compared the roles to those of U.S. attorneys, whom the president can remove at will.
“President Trump is wrong to claim these actions were ‘common’ or ‘standard,’” the inspectors general said in their lawsuit. “To the contrary, since 1980, there has been a bipartisan consensus that it is improper for a new presidential administration to remove IGs en masse.”
Along with Ware, the former inspector general plaintiffs include Robert Storch of the Pentagon, Michael Missal of Veterans Affairs, Christi Grimm of Health and Human Services, Cardell Richardson of the State Department, Sandra Bruce of the Education Department, Phyllis Fong of the Department of Agriculture, Larry Turner of the Labor Department.
Trump appointed Storch and Ware during his first term.
Together, the eight inspectors general conducted oversight of nearly $5 trillion of funds appropriated by Congress annually and more than 3.5 million federal employees, approximately 80% of the federal workforce.
They also each served on the Integrity and Efficiency Council, on which Ware’s seat remains vacant.
Former President Jimmy Carter created the role via the Inspector General Act of 1978 in the wake of the Watergate Scandal that led to former President Richard Nixon’s resignation. They’re nominated by presidents and confirmed by the Senate, and many have served at their respective agencies for decades and across administrations.
Hours before Wednesday’s lawsuit Trump fired U.S. Agency for International Development Inspector General Paul Martin, shortly after Martin issued a report critical of Trump’s effort to dismantle the humanitarian aid agency. Martin warned that the move risked wasting nearly $500 million in undelivered food aid.
After a host of lawsuits since Trump took office, federal judges in Washington have been tasked with reviewing Trump’s sweeping efforts to reshape the federal government in his image, particularly his efforts to fire members of the “bureaucracy” that he and billionaire ally Elon Musk have deemed enemies of their agenda.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, an Obama appointee, halted Trump’s removal of another government watchdog atop the Office of Special Counsel, Hampton Dellinger. While his case is ongoing, the ruling sets a precedent that Moss could follow.
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