Late Friday night, President Donald Trump abruptly used the cover of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic to fire the intelligence community’s inspector general Michael Atkinson, who’d handled the whistleblower complaint about Trump’s attempt to bribe Ukraine that eventually led to the president’s impeachment. Trump claimed that he had “lost confidence” in Atkinson’s ability to carry out his job, but in a follow-up statement, the Justice Department’s inspector general Michael Horowitz directly contradicted the president about Atkinson and pledged continued “aggressive” oversight of the Trump administration. That’s not likely to sit well with Trump, who’s wound himself up into an endless stream of rants about the supposed “witch hunts” targeting his administration.
Horowitz also serves as chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE). He commented:
‘Inspector General Atkinson is known throughout the Inspector General community for his integrity, professionalism, and commitment to the rule of law and independent oversight. That includes his actions in handling the Ukraine whistleblower complaint, which the then acting Director of National Intelligence stated in congressional testimony was done “by the book” and consistent with the law. The Inspector General Community will continue to conduct aggressive independent oversight of the agencies that we oversee.’
Michael Horowitz, Chair of the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and the Inspector General at the Department of Justice, issued a statement on the removal of Michael Atkinson, the Inspector General for the Intelligence Community (ICIG). pic.twitter.com/A0kIPHe2hV
— Oversight.gov (@OversightGov) April 4, 2020
Horowitz also singled out the example of the newly enacted hundreds of billions of dollars in Coronavirus relief funding for continued oversight — an area in which Trump has already come into conflict with Congressional Democrats. The latest relief legislation included the creation of an entirely new inspector general position, which was empowered to report directly to Congress in the event of the White House refusing to cooperate with oversight and investigation, but Trump claimed that he wanted to rein in that reporting power.
Horowitz is definitely not the only one who’s spoken out in the wake of Trump’s abrupt political retaliation against Atkinson. After the Ukraine whistleblower complaint emerged, Atkinson hadn’t even been at the forefront of the news for awhile — but Trump holds onto his grudges, even amidst a deadly pandemic.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) insisted:
‘The shameful late-night firing of Inspector General Atkinson is a brazen act against a patriotic public servant who has honorably performed his duty to protect the Constitution and our national security, as required by the law and by his oath. This latest act of reprisal against the Intelligence Community threatens to have a chilling effect against all willing to speak truth to power.’
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) was also alarmed. He added:
‘Trump’s dead of night decision to fire ICIG Michael Atkinson is another blatant attempt to gut the independence of the Intelligence Community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing. It puts our country and national security at even greater risk.’
Trump’s dead of night decision to fire ICIG Michael Atkinson is another blatant attempt to gut the independence of the Intelligence Community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing.
It puts our country and national security at even greater risk. pic.twitter.com/Pnm7chdIkl
— Adam Schiff (@RepAdamSchiff) April 4, 2020
Amidst the administration’s failures to respond appropriately to the Coronavirus pandemic, House Dems have already been discussing their plans to hold them accountable with investigation work. Schiff suggested a “9/11 style commission” in the wake of increasing reports of failures to even take the needs seriously of localities around the country, let alone fulfill them.
