President Trump fired 17 inspectors general, the internal watchdogs that oversee federal agencies, on Friday night, capping a week of dramatic shake-ups at the agency focused on trust in the president, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
The crackdown did not affect Michael E. Horowitz, the Justice Department’s inspector general, according to one of the people with knowledge of the matter. But inspector generals at several major institutions are believed to have been sacked.
The Washington Post reported the shooting earlier. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
The firing threatens to upend the traditional independence of internal security guards, and Mr. Trump reacted with fear.
“Inspectors general are charged with eliminating government waste, fraud, abuse and preventing misconduct,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, in a statement. “President Trump is tearing down the checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption.”
People involved in Trump’s transition had signaled the possibility of such a shake-up. And in line with the effort started by Mr. Trump in early 2020, when he fired five inspector generals from their roles.
At that time, Mr. Trump was dealing with a nationwide coronavirus pandemic, but he also wanted to reshape the government to get rid of people he saw as trying to harm him. That included Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of America’s intelligence community, who handled the anonymous complaint that led to Mr.
The Democrats accused Mr. Trump for trying to overthrow the independent offices.
Mr. Horowitz delivered to the Justice Department in late 2019 a report on the FBI’s investigation into possible links between his campaign and the Russians that began in 2016, the so-called Crossfire Hurricane.
Mr. Horowitz found that the FBI had reasonable grounds to open an investigation, but was critical of the request for a warrant to secretly monitor Trump campaign adviser Carter Page. He also said that the director of the FBI at the time of the investigation, James B. Comey, violated the department’s policy with secret memos about his cooperation with Mr.
The Department of Justice declined to prosecute Mr. Comey, a decision that angered Mr.
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