(official portrait – public domain).
Chuck Grassley is mad as hell, and he’s not gonna take it any more! Well, okay, he’s mildly dyspeptic and he’s gonna make a symbolic show of annoyance that will be noticed by literally no one at the White House.
The Senate Judiciary Chair fancies himself the “patron saint” of inspectors general, and is demanding an explanation for the dismissals of State Department Inspector General Steve Linick and Transportation Department Inspector General Mitchell Behm, the fourth and fifth IGs terminated by Trump since he took office.
Behm was investigating Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, wife of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, for possible misuse of government resources to benefit her family’s business. And Linick was conducting multiple inquiries into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for everything from hosting dinner parties on the government dime to illegal arms sales to Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday he testified that, just days after he sought to interview Pompeo, he found himself locked out of the building, unable even to clean out his office. And post hoc may not ergo propter hoc, but it sure is a bad look.
Similarly, former Health and Human Services IG Christi Grimm was dismissed for very serious reasons that have nothing to do with her report documenting pervasive shortages of testing supplies and personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pay no attention to that crazy man behind the curtain who controls the entire apparatus of the federal government. Those IGs were dismissed for legitimate reasons which have nothing whatever to do with getting crosswise with their bosses! Only… the White House won’t actually say what those reasons are, beyond sending State Department Deputy Brian Bulatao out to imply that Linick was a leaker.
“You know the IG is normally charged with carrying out the investigation,” he told reporters. “It certainly was a very strong finger-pointing at IG Linick’s way.”
Nice, huh?
But a generalized smearing was apparently insufficient for Senator Grassley.
“I want to work with you to ensure that the enemy here is wasteful government spending, not the government watchdogs charged with protecting the taxpayer,” Grassley wrote to the president on May 18. “To that end, please provide a detailed reasoning for the removal of Inspector General Linick no later than June 1, 2020. Please also provide me and my colleagues a written response to our letter of April 8, 2020, regarding the removal of Inspector General Atkinson as soon as possible.”
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone responded in a May 26 letter which supplied no justification for the firings, simply asserting that “When the President loses confidence in an inspector general, he will exercise his constitutional right and duty to remove that officer.” Cipollone insisted that Trump fulfilled his obligation under the statute by giving notice to Congress, and warned Grassley not to press the point because “Executive Branch officials of both parties have long believed that the Act’s notification requirement raises serious constitutional concerns.”
Which is exactly what he’s been saying to Democrats for three straight years. Well, minus the bogus assertion that congressional oversight is illegal and insistence that all Executive Branch communications are top secret classified executive privilege so CONGRESS KEEP OUT.
Which brings us to yesterday.
Don’t get too excited, he’s still going to confirm every 22-year-old fascist the Federalist Society kicks his way to a lifetime position on the federal bench. But he’s taking a real, principled stand when it comes to Christopher Miller, who is nominated to be director of the National Counterterrorism Center, and Marshall Billingslea, who hopes to become undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. The White House will doubtless be duly chastened and supply the requested justification forthwith.
Just kidding. With Donald Trump in the White House and Kavanaugh on the bench, congressional oversight is deader than a deer splayed across Chuck Grassley’s fender.
You can assume it’s dead.
Elizabeth Dye (@5DollarFeminist) lives in Baltimore where she writes about law and politics.