How bureaucrats operating outside the system can target Trump-appointed investigators

A panel of inspectors general has been “wielding power” outside supervision of the president or Congress in targeting officials appointed during the first Trump administration that investigated waste, fraud, and abuse in government, according to a court filing.

Inspectors general have become a contentious issue after President Donald Trump fired 17 in January. However, inspectors general appointed by Trump in his first term have faced targeting from the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, also known as CIGIE.

CIGIE is a body within the executive branch that serves as a watchdog of watchdogs of sorts. CIGIE has an integrity committee that investigates complaints against agency inspectors general. Over the last year, the council has faced scrutiny from Congress and pushback from IGs questioning the lack of transparency by the council and its objectivity.

Interestingly, one of the most powerful positions in CIGIE is held by a non-federal employee. The chair of the CIGIE Integrity Committee is Corporation for Public Broadcasting Inspector General Kimberly Howell, who was selected by a private nonprofit board. Nevertheless, the integrity committee can act against presidential-appointed and Senate-confirmed inspectors general.

“The U.S. Code is clear that the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is not an agency of the federal government,” James Read, chief counsel to the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General, and a plaintiff in a lawsuit against CIGIE, told The Daily Signal. “This is non-presidential appointees investigating presidential appointees that could lead to presidential employees getting fired. There is no way Congress intended this.”

In a House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing in July, Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., raised questions about due process when allegations are made against inspectors general.

Recent controversies involving CIGIE include:

• In August, Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote to Howell inquiring about whistleblowers’ allegations that the CIGIE Integrity Committee may be inappropriately targeting the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General—led by Trump appointee Joe Cuffari—for political reasons at a time when he was issuing reports critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the border.
• In May, eight House Republicans sent a letter inquiring why the CIGIE Integrity Committee declined to investigate allegations of misconduct Cuffari reported.
• Gail Ennis resigned on May 31 as inspector general of the Social Security Administration amid an inquiry by the CIGIE Integrity Committee. Trump appointed Ennis in 2019.
• Railroad Retirement Board Inspector General Martin Dickman—not a Trump appointee—was fired after being in the role for 30 years resulting from a CIGIE investigation.

In a March court hearing (unrelated to Read’s case), U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes told eight fired IGs who sued to get their jobs back that there is likely no remedy for reinstatement. However, Reyes said that Trump’s removal was a “violation of the law” for not notifying Congress. A president must provide cause and notify Congress 30 days in advance before firing an inspector general under a law most recently updated in 2022.

The case of the eight fired inspectors general is separate from Read’s lawsuit against CIGIE. However, Read stressed that the separation of powers argument the Trump administration has advanced to justify firing the IGs is like the argument in his case that the council violates the separation of powers.

Last year, the Biden administration filed a motion to dismiss Read’s case first filed in June, as reported by The Daily Signal.  Read is hopeful the Trump administration’s Justice Department will drop that motion.

“Inspectors general fall under the unitary executive,” Read said. “My argument is that the president cannot control CIGIE or the Integrity Committee. I can’t imagine people at high levels of the Trump administration disagree with my argument.”

Among the Trump-fired inspectors general were Hannibal Ware of the Small Business Administration, who had just started his two-year term as chairman of CIGIE. After his ouster, CIGIE Vice Chair Tammy Hull, the inspector general of the Postal Service, and a non-presidential appointee, became the acting chair.

“CIGIE and CIGIE’s Integrity Committee are constitutional zombies,” said Read’s February court filing in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia. “They are led by individuals who are beyond the supervision or control of the president, yet they wield significant executive power supported by appropriated funds.” 

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting—which oversees National Public Radio and the Public Broadcasting Service—is heavily subsidized by taxpayers. However, by statute, it is a private nonprofit organization.

“Similarly, the chairperson of the Integrity Committee is an employee of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a ‘non-profit corporation’ ‘which will not be an agency or establishment of the United States Government,’” the Feb. 23 court filing continues, citing the statute that created the CPB. “The chairperson of the Integrity Committee was not appointed by the president, she cannot be removed by the president, and she is not supervised in her activities as head of the Integrity Committee by anyone in the executive branch; indeed, she is not supervised in any of her activities by anyone in the executive branch.”

Congress established CIGIE as part of the 2008 Inspector General Reform Act.

Read filed his lawsuit in his personal capacity last June. The lawsuit alleged the council of government watchdogs is secretive and violates federal law, namely the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which governs the required transparency of executive branch committees.

The initial complaint challenges the constitutionality of the council and its integrity panel, arguing that many of its members aren’t presidentially appointed nor Senate-confirmed. The federal complaint notes that CIGIE includes 34 presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed members and another 31 appointed by heads of executive agencies or boards.

Those identified as “private citizens,” not federal employees, are the inspectors general of the Appalachian Regional Commission, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Denali Commission, the Legal Services Corporation, and the Smithsonian Institution, all of which were federally chartered and subsidized, but are legally separate from the government.

A spokesperson from the Council of Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency did not respond to phone and email messages.

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting Office of Inspector General referred questions to the council.

A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment.

[Editor’s note: This story originally was published by The Daily Signal.]