本周末，一个两党参议员团体批评了唐纳德·特朗普总统，此前他在不到两个月的一个周五晚上解雇了第四任监察长，激怒了批评他的人，称他正在系统地清除政府监察人员。
特朗普周五解雇了美国国务院监察长史蒂夫·林尼克，民主党称此举是明智之举报复调查国务卿迈克·庞贝。总统现在已经监督了在不到两个月的时间里前所未有的四位监察长的免职:迈克尔·阿特金森已被移除四月第一周的一个星期五，情报部门的情报小组；代理五角大楼搞笑格伦法恩被解雇了同一个周末；五月初，卫生与公众服务部的IG Christi Grimm被撤职。
总统关于林尼克的最新举措促使共和党犹他州参议员米特·罗姆尼周六在推特上写道:“多名监察长被解雇是史无前例的；没有正当理由这样做，会使对他们的目的至关重要的独立性变得冷淡。这是对负责任的民主的威胁，也是宪法权力平衡的裂痕。”
共和党爱荷华州参议员查克·格拉斯利长期以来一直支持监察长和联邦政府的告密者，他发表声明称，特朗普最近的搞笑解雇并不是免职的“充分”证据。
“正如我以前说过的，国会要求有书面理由来证明政府解散是合理的。格拉斯利在一份声明中表示:“普遍缺乏信心根本不足以让国会满意。”。
林尼克的免职导致民主党参议员鲍勃·梅嫩德斯笨蛋这一事件在周六接受美国有线电视新闻网采访时被称为“又一场星期五晚上的大屠杀”——指的是理查德·尼克松总统解雇特别检察官阿奇博尔德·考克斯在1973年水门事件中接受了另外两名官员的辞呈。
同一天，梅嫩德斯宣布的他和民主党众议员埃利奥特·恩格尔已经开始对林尼克的下台进行调查，并给白宫发了一封信。
“特朗普总统史无前例地解除了林尼克监察长的职务，这只是他最近从一个联邦机构中解除了监察长的职务，监察长是我们政府的主要独立监督者。恩格尔和梅嫩德斯在一份声明中写道:“我们坚决反对出于政治动机解雇总检查长，以及总统对这些关键职位的贬低。”。“报告显示，庞贝部长亲自建议解雇林尼克先生，我们的理解是，他这样做是因为监察长已经开始调查庞贝部长本人的不当行为。这种行动显然是为了保护庞贝部长免于个人责任，会破坏我们民主制度的基础，并且可能是一种非法的报复行为。众议院通过《英雄法案》仅几个小时后，这种担忧就被放大了，该法案包含了对监察长的额外法律保护。”
新闻周刊周日晚上，我联系了梅嫩德斯的办公室和白宫。
缅因州共和党参议员苏珊·科林斯在周六的一条推文中同意两位民主党议员的批评:“我一直强烈支持监察长。他们是国会识别低效或无效政府项目、根除欺诈和其他不法行为的重要合作伙伴。”
监察长长期存在于美国军队中，但在水门事件和尼克松辞职后，国会于1978年正式设立了监察长一职。
几名两党议员指责特朗普对任何批评其政府行为的人进行报复，特别是参与弹劾听证会的告密者，包括中校·亚历山大·温德曼和前美国驻乌克兰大使玛丽·约瓦诺维奇。
本周末，一个两党参议员团体批评了唐纳德·特朗普总统，此前他在不到两个月的一个周五晚上解雇了第四任监察长，激怒了批评他的人，称他正在系统地清除政府监察人员。
TRUMP FACES BIPARTISAN CRITICISM OVER DECISION TO FIRE 4TH INSPECTOR GENERAL FRIDAY NIGHT
A bipartisan group of senators criticized President Donald Trump this weekend after he fired a fourth Inspector General on a Friday night in less than two months, roiling his critics who say he's systematically removing government watchdogs.
Trump on Friday fired State Department Inspector General Steve Linick, a move that Democrats said was in retaliation for a probe into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The president has now overseen the unprecedented removal of four inspector generals in under two months: Michael Atkinson was removed as the intelligence community's IG on a Friday in the first week of April; acting Pentagon IG Glenn Fine was fired that same weekend; and Health and Human Services IG Christi Grimm was removed in early May.
The president's latest move regarding Linick prompted Republican Utah Senator Mitt Romney to tweet Saturday: "The firings of multiple Inspectors General is unprecedented; doing so without good cause chills the independence essential to their purpose. It is a threat to accountable democracy and a fissure in the constitutional balance of power."
GOP Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, a longtime advocate of inspectors general and federal government whistleblowers, issued a statement saying Trump's latest IG dismissal was not "sufficient" evidence for removal.
"As I've said before, Congress requires written reasons justifying an IG's removal. A general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress," Grassley said in a statement.
Linick's removal led Democratic Senator Bob Menendez to dub the event as "another Friday night massacre" during a CNN interview Saturday--a reference to the "Saturday Night Massacre," when President Richard Nixon fired Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and accepted the resignations of two other officials in 1973 amid the Watergate scandal.
On that same day, Menendez announced that he and Democratic Congressman Eliot L. Engel have started a probe into Linick's ouster, and sent a letter to the White House.
"President Trump's unprecedented removal of Inspector General Linick is only his latest sacking of an inspector general, our government's key independent watchdogs, from a federal agency. We unalterably oppose the politically-motivated firing of inspectors general and the President's gutting of these critical positions," Engel and Menendez wrote in a statement. "Reports indicate that Secretary Pompeo personally made the recommendation to fire Mr. Linick, and it is our understanding that he did so because the Inspector General had opened an investigation into wrongdoing by Secretary Pompeo himself. Such an action, transparently designed to protect Secretary Pompeo from personal accountability, would undermine the foundation of our democratic institutions and may be an illegal act of retaliation. This concern is amplified by the fact that it came only hours after the House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act, which contains additional legal protections for inspectors general."
Newsweek reached out to Menendez's office and the White House Sunday evening.
Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins concurred with the criticism of the two Democratic lawmakers in a tweet Saturday: "I have long been a strong advocate for the Inspectors General. They are vital partners in Congress's effort to identify inefficient or ineffective government programs and to root out fraud and other wrongdoing."
Inspectors general have long existed in the U.S. military, but Congress officially created the IG position in 1978 following Watergate and Nixon's resignation.
Several bipartisan lawmakers accused Trump of retaliating against anyone who criticizes the actions of his administration, particularly whistleblowers involved in the impeachment hearings including Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman and former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
A bipartisan group of senators criticized President Donald Trump this weekend after he fired a fourth Inspector General on a Friday night in less than two months, roiling his critics who say he's systematically removing government watchdogs.
