The senior Republican in the Senate led a bipartisan group Wednesday scolding President Trump for his ouster of the intelligence community’s inspector general, calling it a worrying attack on a key watchdog, and perhaps even a violation of the law.
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican and the Senate’s president pro tem, said under the law, inspectors general are only to be removed for malfeasance or other conduct severe enough to discredit the office they hold.
But Mr. Trump didn’t allege anything like that in ousting Michael Atkinson from his post as inspector general of the intelligence community. Instead, the president asserted he’d lost confidence in Mr. Atkinson, who had alerted Congress to the Ukrainian phone call that launched Democrats’ failed impeachment effort.
Mr. Grassley, along with two other Republicans and five Democrats, said that’s not enough.
“Congressional intent is clear that an expression of lost confidence, without further explanation, is not sufficient to fulfill the requirements of the statute,” the senators wrote.
They also said the law requires notice to Congress 30 days before an inspector general is removed. But Mr. Atkinson was placed on administrative leave immediately, short-circuiting the 30-day period, the senators said.
Mr. Grassley has long been a defender of inspectors general and their role in serving as a watchdog on the agencies they oversee.
Joining him in signing the letter were Republican Sens. Susan M. Collins and Mitt Romney, and Democratic Sens. Gary C. Peters, Ron Wyden, Mark Warner, Dianne Feinstein and Jon Tester.
They said President Obama was warned by Congress when he bypassed the 30-day period in removing the intelligence inspector general in 2009 — again, claiming he’d lost “confidence.”
Mr. Trump has been on the warpath against inspectors general recently.
He criticized the inspector general at the Health Department for a report that found hospitals lacking key equipment amid the coronavirus crisis.
And he also demoted the acting inspector general at the Defense Department, which effectively removed him from serving as inspector general overseeing the $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus spending package.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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