Lawmakers seem powerless to fight Trump on IG firings

By Garrett Downs | 01/29/2025 06:28 AM EST

The president’s move to fire inspectors general is roiling some members of his own party. It may not matter.

Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin side by side.

Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) fired off a letter asking the White House for an explanation on agency watchdog dismissals. Francis Chung/POLITICO

Some congressional Republicans are concerned about President Donald Trump’s apparently illegal purge of 18 agency inspectors general over the weekend. Whether they can do anything about it remains an open question.

For now, it seem lawmakers have settled on a bipartisan and largely toothless strategy: Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and ranking member Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) penned a letter to Trump on Tuesday demanding that he “provide Congress with a written communication that contains the ‘substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons’ for each of the IG’s removed” and urging the White House to quickly name new nominees.

Congress in 2022 passed a law requiring the president to notify Congress 30 days in advance of firing an agency watchdog. It also requires “substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons” for a firing.

Advertisement

“While IGs aren’t immune from committing acts requiring their removal, and they can be removed by the president, the law must be followed,” Grassley and Durbin wrote.

GET FULL ACCESS