‘This administration led by the president just hides from the truth…’
(Claire Russel, Liberty Headlines) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted President Donald Trump for firing multiple inspectors general, accusing the president of launching a dictatorship.
“This administration led by the president just hides from the truth,” Schumer told CNN on Wednesday. “They hate the truth. And that’s why this is not the only inspector general who’s been fired. I think there have been four in the past few months.”
Several of the so-called government watchdogs were Obama administration holdovers who had failed to conduct due oversight of the prior administration during the crooked Russia-gate hoax.
Some—most notably former Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson—also went above and beyond the call of duty in supporting anti-Trump resistance during House Democrats’ recent impeachment efforts.
Schumer pounced on the opportunity to spin the narrative against the president, despite the obvious double-standard.
“It’s like a dictatorship,” he claimed. “It’s not like a democracy; we depend on truth in this democracy, and this president runs away from it. And it’s hurting the American people every single day.”
In response, congressional Democrats once again launched an investigation. They demanded on Thursday that Trump reinstate State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, whom the president had fired this week, reportedly at the best of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
“Based on longstanding concerns with your actions—and new reports this week about potential abuses—this assault on the integrity and independence of Inspectors General appears to be an intentional campaign to undermine their ability to expose corruption and protect taxpayer dollars from waste, fraud, and abuse,” the Democrats wrote in a letter to Pompeo.
Congressional Democrats have also tried to include restrictions on Trump’s authority over inspectors general in new coronavirus relief legislation.
The $3 trillion proposal, which was unveiled by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., last week, specifically states that Trump would not be allowed to fire inspectors general without giving Congress a 30-day notice and a list of reasons explaining the removal.
However, Pelosi’s grandstanding HEROES Act is unlikely to clear the Senate, much less be signed into law by the president.
Trump has defended his right to appoint and fire government officials who are not working towards the interests of his administration.
In regards to Atkinson, he said that the Democrats’ impeachment probe made it clear he could no longer trust Atkinson.
Atkinson “did a terrible job” and “took a fake report and gave it to Congress,” Trump said, referencing the anonymous Ukraine whistleblower document, which triggered the Democrats’ impeachment probe.