"President Donald Trump's continued removals of agency inspectors general dominated a hearing Thursday with a trio of nominees who Senate Democrats questioned on their ability to act independently of the White House. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., the ranking member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, started the hearing off by asking the three nominees if Trump violated the law when he fired 17 IGs at the beginning of his second term without providing advance notice or "substantive rationale" to Congress."
"The trio, who would replace fired watchdogs at the departments of Defense and Labor as well as the Small Business Administration, generally deferred on answering Peters' question by saying the matter is currently being litigated. A federal judge in September ruled that it was "obvious" the president broke federal law with respect to the removals, but she rejected a request by some of them to be reinstated after determining they could not show they suffered irreparable harm."
"D'Esposito answered a question from Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., about whether he would be a political candidate in the next election by saying, "As of today, my focus is to be confirmed as inspector general of the U.S. Labor Department. Having discussions about the future are questions that I can't answer." Blumenthal also pointed out that D'Esposito's campaign website is still up, but the nominee said that he doesn't use it."
President Donald Trump's removals of multiple inspectors general prompted focused Senate questioning of three nominees about their ability to operate independently from the White House. Sen. Gary Peters asked whether Trump violated the law by firing 17 IGs without advance notice or substantive rationale. The nominees largely declined to answer, citing ongoing litigation and a federal judge's September finding that the removals likely broke federal law while denying reinstatement for lack of irreparable harm. Democrats criticized former Rep. Anthony D'Esposito over alleged ethics violations and pressed him on political ambitions; D'Esposito said his immediate focus is confirmation.
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