John,

Over the last six weeks, President Trump has intensified his all-out war on accountability. He has taken steps to oust five independent watchdogs, which is worrisome on its own, but when you examine the consequences and reasons behind the firing of those inspectors general (IGs), it’s even more chilling.

Late Friday night, May 15, President Trump effectively pushed out two IGs, announcing that he was planning to fire State Department IG Steve Linick, and that he was removing acting Department of Transportation IG Mitch Behm and replacing him with a political appointee who will now divide his time between the Office of Inspector General and leading another DOT office. Read CREW Executive Director Noah Bookbinder’s op-ed about how Trump’s attacks on watchdogs are chipping away at checks and balances.

Trump’s attacks on the DOT OIG are particularly troubling in light of the fact that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao was under investigation by Behm for favoritism benefiting her husband Senator Mitch McConnell’s political prospects. Ousting acting IG Behm casts the future of the investigation into doubt. The new acting IG, Howard Elliot, was already vetted by McConnell and confirmed by the Senate to lead the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Read more about this troubling attack on oversight, and read about our investigation to uncover more information.

The President’s announcement of his intent to fire State Department IG Steve Linick has earned a significant amount of attention, and for good reason: Linick was reportedly in the midst of several investigations of alleged misconduct by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, including the misuse of government resources, such as having aides pick up his dry cleaning and walk his dog; hosting lavish tax-payer funded dinners with wealthy political donors; as well as Pompeo’s role in the Trump administration’s plans to sell arms to Saudi Arabia without congressional approval. Pompeo, a close ally of the President, admits that he requested Trump fire Linick, which looks a lot like retaliation. That revelation is incredibly troubling but unfortunately not a surprise, given this administration’s unprecedented stonewalling of oversight, and its blatant abuses of power. We’ve requested records related to Linick’s firing, and we’ll keep pushing for accountability in any way we can.

And those are only the most recent attacks—by demoting DoD Acting IG Glenn Fine, Trump made him ineligible to serve as chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, weakening oversight of the enormous government response to the pandemic; two more of the ousted IGs were also serving on the PRAC. His move to sideline HHS Acting IG Christi Grimm was apparently in retaliation for a report she wrote outlining hospital supply shortages. CREW has also requested records related to his attacks on Grimm.

People are understandably focused on the coronavirus pandemic, and President Trump is taking advantage of the situation to attack watchdogs and oversight. It’s dangerous for our democracy, and for public health. Here at CREW, we’re not going to let it go unchallenged.

Thank you,

Donald Sherman
Deputy Director, CREW

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