The Trump administration’s new inspector general for the Agriculture Department said Tuesday he’ll be independent despite having served as a high-level political appointee at the agency last year.
John Walk, a former senior policy adviser to Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, tried to assure skeptical House Democratic appropriators at a hearing that his political leanings won’t affect his job investigating the USDA’s internal operations.
Walk declined to say whether he’ll recuse himself from any matters he’s handled in the past, having also worked as a lawyer at the USDA for administrations led by both Democrats and Republicans.
He also worked as an associate White House counsel in the first Trump administration and contributed to the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” policy recommendations, although in subjects not involving the USDA, he testified.
