US government watchdogs sue Trump over mass sackings

Eight government watchdogs have sued over their mass firing that removed oversight of President Donald Trump’s new administration.

The lawsuit filed on Wednesday in federal court in Washington asks a judge to declare the firings unlawful and restore the inspectors general to their positions at the agencies.

They said in the filing that they play a critical, non-partisan role overseeing trillions of dollars in federal spending and the conduct of millions of federal employees.

Congress was not given the legally required 30-day notices about the removals, something that even a top Republican decried.

The administration dismissed more than a dozen inspectors general in a Friday-night sweep on the fourth full day of Mr Trump’s second term. Though inspectors general are presidential appointees, some serve presidents of both parties. All are expected to be non-partisan.

At the time of the firings in late January, Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, said there may have been good reasons for the terminations but that Congress needed to know.

The role of the modern-day inspector general dates to post-Watergate Washington, when Congress installed offices inside agencies as an independent check against mismanagement and abuse of power.

Democrats and watchdog groups said the firings raise alarms that Mr Trump is making it easier to take advantage of the government.

Mr Trump claimed at the time the firings were “a very common thing to do” but the inspector generals’ lawsuit says that is not true.

The dismissals came through similarly worded emails.

The watchdogs’ computers, phones and agency access badges were collected within days. The officials were escorted into their respective agencies to collect their personal belongings under supervision, they said in the lawsuit.

The inspector general of the Agriculture Department, however, returned to work as normal the Monday after being informed of the firing, “recognising the email as not effective”, the lawsuit said.

The watchdog conducted several meetings before agency employees cut off her access to government systems and took her computer and phone.

In 2020, in his first term, Mr Trump replaced multiple inspectors general, including those leading the Defence Department and intelligence community, as well as the one chosen to chair a special oversight board for the 2.2 trillion dollar pandemic economic relief package.

The latest round of dismissals spared Michael Horowitz, the long-time Justice Department inspector general who has issued reports on assorted politically explosive criminal investigations over the past decade.

In December 2019, for instance, Mr Horowitz released a report faulting the FBI for surveillance warrant applications in the investigation into ties between Russia and Mr Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

But the report also found that the investigation had been opened for a legitimate purpose and did not find evidence that partisan bias had guided investigative decisions.

The lawsuit was filed by the inspectors general of the departments of Defence, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, State, Education, Agriculture, and Labour, and the Small Business Administration.