Counter-oversight
Inspectors general and watchdogs removed, by president
Every other accountability metric measures wrongdoing that was found. This one measures removal of the people whose job is the finding. Counts are Senate-confirmed or statutory inspectors general fired or forced out by the president, from congressional and court records.
Trump II detail: 17 inspectors general fired on the fifth day of the term by two-sentence late-Friday emails, with no congressional notice and no case-specific rationale, both required by the Inspector General Act as amended in 2022. A federal judge later ruled it “obvious” the firings broke federal law, but declined reinstatement, reasoning the president could simply refire them lawfully in 30 days. Further removals followed through 2025, including the Export-Import Bank IG, again without required notice.
Why this is the counter-detection metric
The removed watchdogs weren't random: the 2020 firings took out the IG who forwarded the whistleblower complaint that triggered the first impeachment, the IG investigating the Secretary of State, and the official overseeing $2 trillion in pandemic relief. Several of the 2025 removals had investigated or were investigating matters touching the business interests of the administration's most powerful private ally. Beyond the firings: over 75% of presidentially appointed IG posts sat vacant as of Oct 2025 (average vacancy: 477 days), the replacements confirmed through 2026 are largely administration alumni, Cabinet inspector-general offices produced 25% fewer investigative reports in the first half of FY2026, and funds Congress appropriated for the IG coordinating council have been unilaterally blocked. The other panels in this gallery count findings; this one explains why future findings will be scarcer.
Fairness column
The historical precedent defenders cite is real: Reagan dismissed all 15 inspectors general on taking office in 1981 (rehiring several), outside this window but proof mass removal isn't literally unprecedented. Presidents may lawfully fire IGs; the legal violation found in 2025 was procedural (no notice, no rationale), not the removals as such. Obama's single removal was itself contested, the IG involved had investigated an Obama ally, though it followed the notice requirement. And a defender's reading of 2025 is a mandate-driven housecleaning of a bureaucracy seen as hostile. What that reading cannot explain is charted above: the notice law was simply skipped, twice, in a pattern a court called obviously unlawful, and the replacements largely never came.