One in every of 17 authorities watchdogs ousted by President Trump mentioned that the transfer was “a potentially existential threat” to an important authorities oversight instrument.
“I view it as a potentially existential threat, with respect to the main oversight mechanism that we have in our federal government system,” Mark Greenblatt, the previous prime watchdog on the Inside Division, informed The Hill on Tuesday.
In the end, Greenblatt mentioned, what the final word impression of the firings of the watchdogs comes all the way down to is “who President Trump nominates and appoints in these inspector general positions.”
“It all boils down to their independence: are they going to be independent of mind and spirit,” he added.
He additionally warned that Trump’s transfer might set a precedent that creates a tit-for-tat, with future Democratic presidents being able to make comparable strikes.
“We run the risk of having a vicious cycle of politicization of the inspector general positions, which, to me, will ultimately … eviscerate the value that the entire construct provides us now,” he mentioned.
Greenblatt was appointed to the function by Trump throughout his prior administration and was confirmed in a bipartisan vote. Throughout his tenure, the inspector normal’s workplace produced stories that each implicated and cleared Trump officers at numerous factors.
Notably in 2021, the workplace discovered that protesters weren’t cleared from Lafayette Park as a result of Trump wished a photo-op. Nonetheless, it additionally dinged Trump officers on ethics in different stories.
“I would be confident that if there were an individual review of my work as Inspector General at the Department of the Interior, that it would be held up as fair, objective and independent throughout,” he mentioned, noting that at one level, Trump thanked him for “Utterly and Completely exonerating me within the clearing of Lafayette Park!”
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the firings throughout a briefing on Tuesday, saying that Trump “was within his executive authority” to ax the watchdogs.
“He is the executive of the executive branch and therefore he has the power to fire anyone within the executive branch that he wishes to,” Leavitt mentioned.
