Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday that Donald Trump “technically” violated the law by firing more than a dozen inspectors general on Friday without notifying Congress.
In an interview on NBC’s Meet The Press, Graham initially dismissed the move saying that he is “not overly worried about that. When you win an election, you need people in your administration that reflect your views.”
Host Kristen Welker then asked: “The law says he’s supposed to give them 30 days’ notice. He didn’t do that. Do you think he violated the law?”
“Well, technically yeah, but he has the authority to do it,” Graham responded. “I’m not losing a whole lot of sleep that he wants to change the personnel out.”
Trump fired at least 17 Independent watchdogs at multiple federal agencies in a Friday night purge raising concerns that he will move to install loyalists in the roles.
While inspectors general can be fired by the president, it requires giving Congress 30 days notice in advance.
The law was strengthened in 2022 to also require administrations to give a detailed reasoning for the firing of an IG, partly in response to Trump removing several independent government watchdogs he saw as disloyal during his first term.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Ca.) slammed Graham’s response to the firings telling Meet The Press: “To write off this clear violation of the law by saying, ‘Well, technically he broke the law.’ Yeah, he broke the law…The American people, if we don’t have good and independent inspector generals are gonna see the swamp refill, they’re gonna see rampant waste, fraud, they’re gonna see corruption. It may be the president’s goal here.”
