The top-ranking Republican and Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding that President Donald Trump give his "rationale" for the recent firings of 18 Inspectors General (IGs) from various federal agencies. 

Trump's 'Midnight Massacre' of 17 Inspectors General Throws DC Status Quo Into Chaos

In a letter electronically transmitted to the president Tuesday, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, joined forces with ranking member Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) to request that the White House promptly provide Congress with written explanations for why each IG was removed. The senators argued that the firings violated the 30-day advance notice period required by the James M. Inhofe National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023.

Here's a snippet from the letter:

“This is a matter of public and congressional accountability and ensuring the public’s confidence in the Inspector General community, a sentiment shared more broadly by other Members of Congress,” the senators wrote to Trump. “IGs are critical to rooting out waste, fraud, abuse, and misconduct within the Executive Branch bureaucracy, which you have publicly made clear you are also intent on doing.”

As RedState's streiff reported last Friday, Trump engaged in a "midnight massacre" that saw multiple IGs summarily removed from their positions.

The known firings include the IGs of the departments of State, Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Education, Labor, and Defense, as well as the Small Business Administration, the US Energy Corporation, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Sergio Gor, the White House Director of Presidential Personnel, emailed each of the IGs and informed them that the removals were effective immediately and reflected the “changing priorities” of the new administration.

Despite blowback from Democrats over the firings, Trump was nonplussed by it all and said he did nothing that other presidents before him hadn't done. That list includes Ronald Reagan, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden.

On Saturday night, Trump defended the terminations on the ground that “it’s a very common thing to do.” (Ronald Reagan fired “15 confirmed and acting IGs then working across the executive branch” soon after his 1981 inauguration, though the IG statute at the time authorized him to do so without constraint; and Presidents Obama and Biden fired at least one IG, but they complied with different versions of the notice requirement, as did Trump in his first term.)

“I don’t know [the fired IGs],” Trump added, “but some people thought that some were unfair or were not doing the job.”  According to the Washington Post, “Trump said he intended to install new people in the roles but said they would have some independence.”

While it might be surprising to see a Republican like Grassley push back on this topic so soon after Trump took office, the senior senator from Iowa actually has made IG removals a pet cause. On June 11, 2009, Grassley wrote a letter to President Obama expressing his concerns over the firing of Gerald Walpin, Inspector General for the Corporation for National and Community Service. Again, Grassley pointed to the 30-day advanced notice period having been allegedly violated and demanded a justification for the oversight.

Grassley took to X on Tuesday reiterating his demand that the president explain to Congress why he took such action.

The letter didn't give a deadline for the Trump White House to provide answers, and judging by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's first official briefing on Tuesday, they're likely to be more than happy to let the president's previous comments on the matter be the end of it.