总统唐纳德·特朗普的知情人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，高级顾问已经讨论了在多个联邦机构驱逐独立监察机构-被称为监察长。
对话始于特朗普入主白宫的过渡期，但消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，尚不清楚这些举措是否或何时会发生。
消息人士称，尚未决定是否解雇IGs，也不清楚特朗普将寻求取消多少监督机构。
监察长可以被总统解雇，但必须提前30天向国会两院通报解雇原因。2022年，国会加强并扩大了对监察长的保护，使其更难被钦点的官员取代，并要求总统对他们的免职做出额外的解释。
虽然政治任命的机构和部门的领导人随着每届政府来来去去，但一个IG可以在多位总统的领导下留任和服务。
白宫没有回应置评请求。
“这将从根本上消除监督的这一关键组成部分，它真的让美国公众容易受到腐败和滥用权力的影响，”政府监督监督小组项目的有效和负责任的政府项目主任费思·威廉姆斯告诉美国广播公司新闻。
特朗普在2010年后安插了政治忠诚者解雇多名监察长在他的第一个任期内-包括2020年的五个多星期-此举遭到了立法者和政府监管机构的批评，他们指责特朗普试图削弱对联邦政府的保障和独立检查。
2020年4月，特朗普解雇了迈克尔·阿特金森情报部门的监察长告诉记者，他做了一件“糟糕的工作”
阿特金森向国会提交的关于举报人投诉的通信有助于启动乌克兰对特朗普的弹劾调查，导致他首次被国会弹劾。特朗普最终被参议院判无罪。
“我认为他做得很糟糕，绝对糟糕。他拿了一份举报者报告，结果证明是一份假报告，是假的，完全错误。这是关于我与乌克兰总统的谈话，”特朗普说。"他拿了一份假报告，并把它带到了国会."
阿特金森向国会转交了一名情报官员的投诉，主要是特朗普的电话，敦促乌克兰总统调查拜登家族在乌克兰的交易。民主党人后来弹劾特朗普滥用权力，试图让乌克兰调查他的政治对手，并阻挠国会对此事的调查。
特朗普表示，他解雇了国务院监察长史蒂夫·利尼克在...敦促下国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥正在接受办公室的调查。
“我对他一无所知，除了国务院，或者特别是迈克，对他正在做的工作不满意，”特朗普说。“他问我这是否可能，我说，‘当然，我会这么做的。’"
据报道，今年早些时候，在对工作场所骚扰和虐待进行调查后，乔·拜登总统解雇了美国铁路退休委员会监察长马丁·迪克曼这座山.
巴拉克·奥巴马总统解雇了杰拉尔德·沃尔平2009年，国家社区服务公司的监察长。此前，瓦尔平批评了司法部与时任萨克拉门托市长凯文·约翰逊的和解，后者被调查人员指控使用美国志愿队志愿者作为茶水员和私人助理。民主党人约翰逊曾为奥巴马助选。
自1978年以来，监察长一直负责调查各部门和机构的浪费、欺诈和滥用职权行为。联邦政府74名监察长中有近一半是由总统提名担任无党派角色的。
根据法律，监察长必须“不考虑政党，完全根据诚信和在会计、审计、财务分析、法律、管理分析、公共管理或调查方面表现出的能力”来聘用。
目前，有近12个空缺的监察长职位需要特朗普填补，包括财政部、商务部和国家安全局。
中央情报局(Central Intelligence Agency)和国家情报总监办公室的监察长去年年底辞职，让特朗普有机会提名自己的人选，领导对强大的国家安全机构的监督。
虽然监察长没有起诉权，但IGs可以确定可能的犯罪行为并提交起诉。
2021年，美国国务院IG认定，蓬佩奥和他的妻子要求工作人员进行个人恩惠，违反了道德规范。蓬佩奥为自己的行为辩护，称他们要求一位长期助手“朋友”完成“小而简单”的任务。
过去，特朗普一直为总统解除监察长的权力辩护，但此举可能会引发政治反弹。
据报道，罗纳德·里根总统上任第一天就解雇了十多名监察长，并被共和党和民主党指责将这些角色政治化《纽约时报》.
政府监督项目的威廉姆斯告诉美国广播公司新闻，抗议导致里根雇用一些被驱逐的看门狗回到他们的角色。
威廉姆斯说，如果特朗普要采取行动，“我希望现在会有一些抗议”。“国会的职责之一是监督，实现这一职责的方法之一是与监察长社区合作。”
参议院司法委员会主席、爱荷华州共和党人查克·格拉斯利长期支持监察长，他告诉ABC新闻，监察长对支持国会作为对行政部门的检查的工作“非常重要”。
他说，“监察长应该独立于政治压力，独立于该机构的负责人，并确保法律得到执行，资金得到适当使用。”
特朗普的第一个过渡团队也考虑过取消监察长:2017年，众议院监督委员会获得了一封内部过渡团队电子邮件，其中指示通知IGs他们“被临时扣留”。
作为总统，特朗普多次抱怨监察长及其工作——曾称五角大楼IG的报告被公开发布是“疯狂的”。
“把这些报告交给敌人，从本质上来说——忘掉公众吧——是疯狂的。我不希望这种事再发生了，部长先生。你明白这一点，”他在2019年1月的内阁会议上对他当时的代理国防部长帕特里克·沙纳汉说。
Trump advisers have discussed ousting independent watchdogs at several federal agencies
PresidentDonald Trump'stop advisers have discussed ousting independent watchdogs -- known as inspectors general -- at multiple federal agencies, sources familiar with the conversations tell ABC News.
The conversations began during Trump's transition period to the White House, but sources tell ABC News that it's not clear if or when the moves are expected to occur.
A decision on whether or not to fire the IGs has not been made, and it's not clear how many of the watchdogs Trump would seek to remove, the sources said.
Inspectors general can be fired by the president, but only after communicating a reason for the removal to both houses of Congress 30 days in advance. In 2022, Congress strengthened and expanded protections for inspectors general, making it harder to replace them with hand-picked officials and requiring additional explanations from a president for their removal.
While the politically-appointed leaders of agencies and departments come and go with each administration, an IG can stay and serve under multiple presidents.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
"It would essentially be removing this critical component of oversight and it really leaves the American public vulnerable to corruption and abuse of power," Faith Williams, the director of the Effective and Accountable Government Program at the Project on Government Oversight watchdog group, told ABC News.
Trump installed political loyalists afterfiring multiple inspectors generalduring his first term in office -- including five over six weeks in 2020 -- in a move that was criticized by lawmakers and government watchdogs who accused Trump of attempting to erode safeguards and independent checks on the federal government.
In April of 2020, Trumpfired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, telling reporters he did a "terrible job."
Atkinson's communications to Congress about a whistleblower complaint helped initiate the Ukraine impeachment inquiry against Trump, leading to his first impeachment by Congress. Trump was ultimately acquitted by the Senate.
"I thought he did a terrible job, absolutely terrible. He took a whistleblower report which turned out to be a fake report, it was fake, it was totally wrong. It was about my conversation with the president of Ukraine," Trump said. "He took a fake report, and he brought it to Congress."
Atkinson transmitted an intelligence official's complaint to Congress that centered on Trump's phone call urging Ukraine's president to investigate the Biden family's dealings in Ukraine. Democrats later impeached Trump for abusing his power in efforts to get Ukraine to investigate his political rival, and for obstructing the congressional investigation into the affair.
Trump said he fired State Department inspector general Steve Linickat the urgingof Secretary of State Mike Pompeo -- who was being investigated by the office.
"I don't know anything about him, other than the State Department, or Mike in particular, weren't happy with the job he was doing," Trump said. "He asked me if that would be possible, and I said, 'Sure, I'll do that.'"
Earlier this year, President Joe Biden fired the inspector general of the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Martin Dickman, following an investigation into workplace harassment and abuse, according toThe Hill.
And President Barack Obamafired Gerald Walpin, the inspector general of the Corporation for National Community Service, in 2009. It followed Walpin's criticism of a Justice Department settlement with then-Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, who had been accused by his investigators of using AmeriCorps volunteers as chaffeurs and personal assistants. Johnson, a Democrat, had campaigned for Obama.
Since 1978, inspectors general have been tasked with investigating waste, fraud and abuse across departments and agencies. Nearly half of the 74 inspectors general in the federal government are nominated by presidents to serve in nonpartisan roles.
By law, an inspector general must be hired "without regard to political party and solely on the basis of integrity and demonstrated ability in accounting, auditing, financial analysis, law, management analysis, public administration, or investigations."
Currently, there are nearly a dozen vacant inspector general positions for Trump to fill, including at the Treasury and Commerce Departments and the National Security Agency.
The inspectors general of the Central Intelligence Agency and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence resigned late last year, giving Trump the opportunity to nominate his own picks to lead oversight of the powerful national security agencies.
While an inspector general lacks prosecutorial power, IGs can identify possible criminal behavior and refer it for prosecution.
In 2021, the State Department IG determined that Pompeo and his wife broke ethics rules by asking staff to carry out personal favors. Pompeo defended his actions, arguing that they asked "small, simple" tasks of a "friend" who was a longtime aide.
In the past, Trump has defended the president's authority to remove inspectors general -- but the move could prompt political backlash.
In his first day in office, President Ronald Reagan dismissed more than a dozen inspectors general, and was accused by Republicans and Democrats of politicizing the roles, according toThe New York Times.
The outcry led Reagan to hire some of the ousted watchdogs back into their roles, Williams of the Project on Government Oversight told ABC News.
"I would hope that there would be some outcry now" if Trump were to take action, Williams said. "One of Congress's duties is oversight, and one of the ways it achieves that is by working with the inspector general community."
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime advocate for inspectors general, told ABC News that IGs are "very important" to support Congress' work as a check on the executive branch.
"Inspector generals are expected to be independent of political pressure, independent of the head of the agency, and to make sure the law is enforced and money is spent appropriately," he said.
Trump's first transition team also contemplated removing inspectors general: In 2017, the House Oversight Committee obtained an internal transition team email with instructions to inform IGs they were "being held over on a temporary basis."
As president, Trump repeatedly complained about inspectors general and their work -- once calling it "insane" that the Pentagon IG's reports were publicly released.
"For these reports to be, to be given out, essentially -- forget about the public -- given out to the enemy is insane. And I don't want it to happen anymore, Mr. Secretary. You understand that," he said in a January 2019 Cabinet meeting to his then-acting Defense secretary, Patrick Shanahan.
