Trump’s Purge of the Watchdogs

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 19 May 2020

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It used to be rare for a president to fire an inspector general, a position created within government agencies after Watergate and assigned to fight waste and corruption. Today, we look at what President Trump’s pattern of replacing inspectors general reveals about the nature of the independent office — and about presidential power. Guest: Maggie Haberman, who covers the White House for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Mr. Trump decided to fire Steve A. Linick, the Department of State’s inspector general, last week. Mr. Linick had opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s spending habits. Congressional Democrats have now opened an investigation into the firing.The president also recently fired the intelligence community’s inspector general. Our chief White House correspondent explains why Mr. Trump’s drive against those he considers disloyal continues even during a pandemic.

Transcript

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0:25.6	From New York Times, I'm Michael Borrow.
0:32.6	This is the Daily.
0:40.6	Today President Trump has fired the Inspector General for the Department of State, whose
0:47.6	investigation posed a threat to his administration.
1:01.6	May 19th.
1:04.6	Maggie, where does the idea of an Inspector General come from?
1:09.6	So, the idea of Inspector General, who are basically public watchdogs, emerged out of
1:14.5	the Watergate era.
1:15.8	I have never been a quitter to leave office before my term is completed as abhorrent to
1:22.7	every instinct in my body.
1:25.3	Richard Nixon resigned in disgrace after abusing his office.
1:30.5	But as president, I must put the interests of America first.
1:35.9	Faith in government dipped substantially among the public.
1:40.0	By taking this action, I hope that I will have hastened the start of that process of healing
1:50.2	which is so desperately needed in America.
	...

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