President Donald Trump’s recent firings of inspectors general won’t directly stop any investigations by their offices, but may have a chilling effect on watchdogs’ most contentious work down the line.
Trump has recently fired several inspectors general for reasons related to their job performance or policy concerns. But the president’s May 15 ouster of watchdogs at the U.S. Departments of State and Transportation have been more explicitly linked to specific probes, prompting concern from Democrats, among others, that the firings may be intended to protect the subjects of those investigations .
