Chuck Grassley’s silence on inspector general firings is deafening
by Mark Lee Greenblatt, opinion contributor -
Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) speaks.
Anna Moneymaker, Getty Images
Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) speaks as Kash Patel, President Trump’s nominee to be Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on January 30, 2025 in Washington.
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has fancied himself as the patron saint of America’s inspectors general, those officials charged with rooting out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government.
Indeed, he has taken significant action over the years to enhance the independence and effectiveness of the inspector general community. But Grassley’s support has mysteriously vanished into thin air as President Trump is systematically decapitating our nation’s highly effective watchdogs.
The Iowa lawmaker played a key role in critical legislation that protected and bolstered the inspector general community in 2008 and 2016. He raised Cain when President Barack Obama fired an inspector general without a sufficient explanation.
Similarly, when Trump fired two and removed a handful of acting inspectors general in his first term, Grassley stood up for the community in a powerful speech that advocated for stronger protections to prevent politicization in inspector general oversight. Grassley also held up the confirmation of two Trump nominees until he got the answers he demanded.
He later championed the Securing Inspector General Independence Act in 2022, which enhanced protections for inspectors general and their offices.
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As the chair of the Council of Inspectors General, I would regularly acknowledge Grassley as our patron saint, in light of his staunch and consistent support over the decades.
But something strange has happened since the 2024 presidential election. In that time, the White House has strategically gutted Offices of Inspectors General, starting with the firing or removal of 17 inspectors general (including me) at the outset of this administration.
Considering Grassley’s outrage over the termination of three inspectors general during the Obama and first Trump administrations, one would think he would be apoplectic over the purge of nearly 20 in one fell swoop. But apparently, he isn’t.
In response to the mass firings, Grassley wrote a performative “strongly worded” letter demanding the reasons for the removals. I worked in the Senate for nearly six years, and I can assure you that among the weapons that Senators have to champion a cause or drive change, a strongly worded letter is akin to a popgun.
In fact, the White House effectively ignored Grassley’s letter, and the matter was promptly dropped. No holds on nominations, no hearings, just a letter.
But at least the letter was a reaction. Since the initial mass firings in January, the administration has continued with highly concerning moves regarding the inspector general community, but Grassley’s support appears to have completely vanished.
When President Trump fired the inspector general at USAID less than 24 hours after he issued a report with negative findings, Grassley reportedly supported the firing, purportedly based on fraud at USAID.
In the past, Grassley most certainly would have objected vehemently to the firing and used the arrows in his legislative quiver to protect the independence and integrity of the inspector general community. But not now.
And after the administration apparently planted a political official inside the Intelligence Community Inspector General’s office, Grassley appears to have been silent, even though he had warned against this very issue years earlier.
After the nomination of political actors and candidates with ethics baggage for critical inspector general positions? Silence. In fact, he voted to confirm one nominee who is a current political official in the administration.
After the removal of the acting inspector general at the Department of Education for doing her job? Silence.
After the subsequent removal of acting inspector general at the Department of Housing and Urban Development? Silence.
In 2020, Grassley said in a Senate speech that he would, “continue to champion inspectors general, whistleblowers and robust government accountability regardless of who occupies the White House or has the majority in Congress.”
“No amount of shrieking from Twitter resisters or shortsighted and misguided pundits will change that,” he added.
The American public deserves to know why he apparently has changed.
It’s not that he has not suddenly disavowed holding nominations; in fact, he just announced that he would be holding Trump administration nominees over a different dispute with the White House. So, he appears to be actively choosing to not protect the inspector general community any longer.
Grassley’s longstanding reputation as a champion of inspectors general has made his silence, and at times complicity, all the more jarring. His retreat has left a void at a time when independent oversight is under siege, threatening the very accountability mechanisms that protect taxpayer dollars.
Without a vocal advocate in Congress, inspectors general face increasing political pressure, retaliation and diminished authority. The stakes are enormous: A weakened oversight community means more waste, more corruption and less faith in government.
As Grassley’s saintly inspector general halo dims, the question now is who will rise to take his place. The community needs a new patron saint; someone with the courage, conviction and bipartisan credibility to defend the independence of these watchdogs when it matters most.
Mark Lee Greenblatt is a former inspector general of the U.S. Department of the Interior and chair of the Council of Inspectors General, as well as the author of “Valor: Unsung Heroes from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front.”
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