Trump purges at least a dozen inspectors general overnight

The Trump administration fired at least a dozen federal surveillance officers as of Friday afternoon, a potentially illegal move that could face court challenges.

Speaking from the Senate floor on Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer described the guard shootings as a “chilling purge.”

“These impeachments are Donald Trump’s way of saying that he is afraid of accountability and that he is against facts and transparency,” said Schumer, Democrat of New York.

The White House has not confirmed the shootings and did not respond to the BBC’s request for comment.

Affected inspectors general were sent emails from the presidential staff director on Friday night, saying that “due to a change in priorities, your position as inspector general is terminated, effective immediately,” according to the BBC’s US partner CBS News.

The group of ousted watchdogs includes the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services and the inspector general of the Small Business Administration, CBS said.

Competing lists of the fired caretakers were circulating, according to the New York Times. Agriculture, commerce, defense, education, housing and urban development, interior, labor, transportation and veterans issues, as well as the Environmental Protection Agency, were considered.

Congress created inspector generals in the wake of the Watergate scandal as part of a wave of reforms aimed at preventing corruption, waste and fraud. Independent watchdogs—those who work for federal agencies but are not controlled by the heads of those agencies—serve to protect against mismanagement and abuse of power.

Although nominated for the presidency, they are expected to be non-partisan.

The shooting may have violated a law that requires the White House to give Congress 30 days notice and provide case-specific information.

Hannibal Ware, the inspector general of the Small Business Administration and head of the interagency oversight board, sent a letter to Sergio Gor, the White House chief of staff, suggesting the layoffs were invalid.

“I encourage you to reach out to the White House for your desired course of action,” Ware wrote. “At this time, we do not believe that the actions taken are legally sufficient to remove the inspector general appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate.”

Democrats were quick to criticize the president for the move.

Schumer said the move was a “foreshadowing of the lawless approach” Trump and his administration were taking.

Gerry Connolly, Democrat of Virginia and a member of the House Oversight Committee, called it a “Friday night coup” and an “attack on transparency and accountability.”

Some Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, expressed concern about the cleanup.

“I don’t understand why people whose mission is to root out waste, fraud and abuse would be fired,” Collins said Saturday at the Capitol. – I don’t understand.