Laura Barron-Lopez:
Geoff, eight of those fired inspectors general are now suing the Trump administration, seeking to be reinstated to their positions. These independent government watchdogs are a key check on waste, fraud and abuse.
To discuss the impact, I’m joined by two of the top watchdogs fired by the president, Christi Grimm, former inspector general for the Department of Health and Human Services, and Robert Storch, former inspector general for the Department of Defense.
Thank you both for being here with me today.
You were both fired on a Friday night and the White House said that it was terminating you and other I.G.s due to changing priorities.
Rob, did that language stick out to you?
Robert Storch, Former Inspector General, Department of Defense: It did. It’s a great question, because administrations come and go, right? And they all have their own priorities and that’s fine. Elections have consequences.
I.G.s, however, are nonpartisan independent watchdogs. So, whatever the priorities of the administration may be, we do independent oversight to look for waste, fraud and abuse and to ensure that the programs and operations of the departments we oversee are economical, that they’re efficient, that they’re effective.
So that stuck out from the very beginning.
