In another sweeping move of his second term, President Trump has fired more than a dozen inspectors general.

Those are the nonpartisan watchdogs appointed to protect against abuses of power, waste, and mismanagement across federal agencies.

Our White House correspondent, Larbarone Lopez, has more on the impact of this purge.

The wave of dismissals began on Friday night and span various government agencies,

including the Department of Defense and Department of Health and Human Services.

Even some members of the President's party are suggesting the firings violate federal law,

which requires Congress to receive at least 30 days notice and reasons for removal.

Mark Greenblatt, who was fired from his post as Inspector General of the Interior Department,

told the News Hour earlier that he was heartbroken when he received notice of his firing Friday night.

The biggest fear that I have is, frankly, is the politicization of the Inspector General community. I think this should be,

should send up some red flags for the American taxpayer. We have to make sure that the, that the mechanism

of the inspectors general is independent and apolitical. To discuss the impact of this decision,

I'm joined by Glenn Fine, former Inspector General for the Department of Justice in the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

And he also served as acting inspector general of the Defense Department during President Trump's first term until Trump fired him.

Glenn, thank you so much for joining. To start, why are inspectors general so essential to providing checks and balances for the

federal government? Well, thank you for having me. Inspectors general are crucial to detecting and

deterring waste, fraud, and abuse, promoting the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of

federal agencies, and preventing misconduct. They are established by the

Inspector General Act of 1978, and they're supposed to be independent and objective units

located within each federal agency to do their critically important mission. They return money

to the federal treasury, they deter misconduct, and they also let the taxpayers know how their dollars

are being spent. So it's important to support these independent and objective watchdogs.

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