Congress

Federal watchdogs fired by Trump urge court to reinstate them

Published

1 year ago

February 12, 2025

Eight federal watchdogs, abruptly fired last month by President Donald Trump, are suing to get their jobs back, saying Trump broke the law by failing to give Congress a 30-day heads up and concrete explanation for the dismissals.

Trump sent a jolt through Washington when he fired 17 inspectors general on the first Friday night of his term, presaging weeks of extraordinary assertions of power that have at times crossed clear legal boundaries.

A 2022 federal law requires Trump to notify Congress 30 days before he terminates an inspector general and to provide detailed reasons. Trump has bristled at constraints on his authority to manage the executive branch, embracing the most muscular version of presidential power and daring the courts to keep him in check.

The ex-watchdogs — including former inspectors general from the Pentagon, the Departments of State, Education, Labor, Agriculture, Veterans Affairs and Health and Human Services, as well as the Small Business Administration — say a federal court should reinstate them and force Trump to abide by the 2022 law, or perhaps retain them altogether. Two of them, former Pentagon IG Robert Storch and former Small Business Administration IG Michael Ware, were originally appointed to their roles by Trump in his first presidential term.

The group, represented by former deputy attorney general David Ogden and former solicitor general Seth Waxman, is seeking an injunction to undo firings and asking the federal court in Washington, D.C. for expedited consideration.

“The firing of the independent nonpartisan inspectors general was a clear violation of the law,” said Michael Missal, who Trump removed as the top watchdog for the Department of Veterans Affairs. “The IGs are bringing this action for reinstatement so that they can go back to work fighting fraud, waste and abuse on behalf of the American people.”

All of the inspectors general say they were notified of their termination by Trump appointees but never directly communicated with Trump himself. Soon after, according to the lawsuit, “agency employees cut off each plaintiff’s access to government systems, collected each one’s assigned government equipment — computers, phones and access badges — and arranged for plaintiffs to collect personal belongings from government buildings under supervision.”

The lawsuit comes just hours after Trump fired yet another watchdog — USAID Inspector General Paul Martin — shortly after he reported that Trump’s bid to dismantle the agency risked wasting nearly $500 million in undelivered food aid. Martin was not included in the initial lawsuit, though advocates expect the complaint to be updated over time.

Inspectors general were a post-Watergate creation, meant to provide an internal, independent check on executive branch waste, fraud and abuse. They’re nominated by presidents and confirmed by the Senate, and they’re often tasked with complex audits of government programs and reviews of politically sensitive controversies. That mission at times produces an uneasy balance between the watchdogs — who technically work for the administration — and the agencies they monitor.

The IGs are not the only Trump administration officials fighting to undo Trump’s decision to fire them. A member of the National Labor Relations Board is suing to return to her position, and a different government watchdog, Hampton Dellinger, won a court ruling temporarily reinstating him atop the Office of Special Counsel.

Congress

Jack Smith invited to testify before Senate next month

Published

49 minutes ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Jack Smith, the former special counsel who brought criminal charges against President Donald Trump, has been invited to testify Sept. 22 before the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to an invitation from Chair Chuck Grassley reviewed by Blue Light News.

Smith previously testified before the House Judiciary Committee in January, but Grassley (R-Iowa) and his team have been probing Smith and his investigations for months.

Grassley recently revealed that Smith obtained text messages that 44 members of Congress sent to White House officials during the waning months of Trump’s first term leading up to and around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

Grassley’s texts were among those accessed by Smith’s team, along with Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.).

“In the process of a deeply flawed, weaponized investigation, Jack Smith subpoenaed phone toll records from a dozen senators, scooped up text messages from over 40 members of Congress, and subpoenaed the private communications and financial records of hundreds of other Republican entities and individuals,” Grassley said in a statement.

“He needs to answer directly to Congress for his actions,” Grassley added. “Smith has requested to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and our committee looks forward to hearing from him as part of Congress’ investigation into Arctic Frost and his time as Special Counsel. Smith must be honest and forthcoming in his answers, because the American people deserve nothing less than full transparency and accountability.”

Lawyers for Smith did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During the January hearing, Republicans focused on technicalities of how Smith investigated the probe into Trump’s election interference, such as whether he properly signed his oath of office and whether he was sufficiently versed on the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause that protects members of Congress from criminal investigation for their lawmaking actions.

Congress

Chuck Edwards recommended for censure by House Ethics Committee

Published

1 hour ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The House Ethics Committee recommended Monday that lawmakers censure Rep. Chuck Edwards for engaging in “persistent unprofessional and inappropriate conduct towards two young female staffers” — cataloguing multiple episodes of sexual harassment by the married lawmaker.

Censure is the most severe punishment the panel can recommend short of expulsion, requiring targeted members to submit to a public shaming on the floor. The bipartisan panel said it plans to bring a privileged resolution to a vote once the House returns to session later this month.

A spokesperson for Edwards, 65, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a 15-page rebuttal, lawyers for Edwards said that the Ethics Committee “failed to demonstrate that either of the two staffers expressed discomfort to Representative Edwards regarding his conduct with them.” They also rejected the need for censure, noting that it has been used “sparingly in this context and directed only at matters of severe sexual misconduct.”

The panel itself released a trove of evidence including emails, text messages and photographs showing how Edwards had insinuated himself into intimate aspects of their lives.

Edwards, the committee found, made comments on the appearance of two young female staffers in his congressional office, telling them they looked “pretty” or “breathtaking” and made a comment on one staffer’s weight. He also lavished the young women with gifts, including purses valued at more than $1,000, as well as guns, shoes, flowers and one-on-one dinners.

Text messages from one of the women showed Edwards at one point sent her more than 20 containers of ice cream because, he said, she needed “a lot of cheering up!”

Sexual harassment is prohibited by House rules and federal law, and the committee found that Edwards violated “the spirit of the House’s prohibitions on sexual harassment and unwanted advances, as well as the requirement to act in a manner that reflects credibly upon the House.”

The report found Edwards brought one of the staffers to a holiday event at the White House, gave her flowers and texted her how he was “so excited about tonight” and that he pressured her to continue the night with him after the event. Edwards told the committee he accompanied that staffer to her home in Virginia because he “felt uncomfortable dumping a young lady on the street.”

Edwards also talked to that staffer and others about going to strip clubs in Washington, the report says.

The panel concluded that Edwards did not engage in sexual activity with either of the women, nor did he explicitly proposition them or other staff members for sex. Edwards, who is facing a competitive race for reelection in his western North Carolina district, cooperated with the probe, the committee said.

In one instance, the panel found, Edwards skipped House votes one night to decorate the second staffer’s Christmas tree. He also went out drinking and gambling with her. On another occasion, he recited a poem at her going-away party in his office and cried during that incident, making his staff noticeably uncomfortable.

When the second staffer left his office, Edwards helped her move back to North Carolina and sent her a handwritten letter in which he described her as “the most amazing woman” and that she had “written a complex chapter in my heart that I will never stop reading.”

Edwards told the committee that letter was not romantic.

“It was only to imply that we had a relationship on so many different levels — on a congressional level, on a professional level, on a friendship level, on a helping-one-another-out-with-our-chores-and-responsibility level,” he said.

Congress

Cornyn, Tillis confirm they will vote for Blanche

Published

6 hours ago

August 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has a clear path to the Senate Judiciary Committee advancing his nomination to the permanent job after two GOP holdouts confirmed Monday they would vote for him.

The statement from Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) comes after the late-night announcement Sunday of a Justice Department agreement to clarify a controversial May settlement agreement between President Donald Trump and the IRS.

A successful Judiciary vote Tuesday would set Blanche up for confirmation on the Senate floor later this week, before the chamber breaks for August recess.

“We want to express our gratitude to Mr. Blanche and his staff for working with us on this, and we look forward to voting to advance his nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee soon,” Cornyn and Tillis said in a joint statement.

The senators suggested their agreement with Blanche also satisfies the concerns of several other Republican senators off the Judiciary Committee who have raised concerns about the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” created in the original settlement, as well as provisions immunizing Trump and his family from some tax audits.

“We are pleased that the Department of Justice has issued a formal order terminating the anti-weaponization fund. Additionally, the Department has acknowledged in a binding written order that the audit settlement is limited to the plaintiffs and the scope does not extend beyond the defendants in the lawsuit, the IRS and the Treasury, addressing concerns that multiple of our Republican colleagues share,” Cornyn and Tillis said.

Sens. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, John Curtis of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska are among the other Republicans who have expressed concerns about the payout fund. Blanche recently visited Alaska and announced a flurry of settlements benefiting Alaska as he courts Murkowski’s vote.