Trump fired government watchdogs en masse. Corruption and abuse are sure to follow

President Donald Trump appointed Mark Lee Greenblatt as the inspector general of the Department of the Interior in 2019 to root out fraud, abuse, and corruption. Greenblatt quickly got to work, conducting audits, inspections, and investigations across the agency, and found several instances of wrongdoing, including a gas marketing outfit conspiring to defraud oil and gas companies and a tribal police officer stealing $40,000. However, Greenblatt was one of 18 inspectors general fired by Trump last week, in contravention of US law. The firings leave several departments, including the Department of Interior, the Department of Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency, without independent oversight. This move is seen as an attempt by Trump to transform the federal government in his image and has raised concerns about the country's environmental policies and public health. Legal experts and nonprofit groups suspect that Trump will replace the fired inspectors general with loyalists who will ignore malfeasance, corruption, and abuse. The firings have also raised concerns among federal employees, who fear that their internal reports and complaints will be ignored or dismissed. The move has been criticized by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, with some calling it "corrosive" and "unprecedented." The White House is supposed to give 30 days' warning before removing an inspector general, but Trump did not follow this procedure. The firings have also raised concerns about the disbursal of funds from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated money for independent oversight of this spending.