Eight inspectors general fired by President Donald Trump last month are now suing the administration in a federal district court.
Former Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General Christi Grimm is one of the lawsuit’s (PDF) named plaintiffs. They are seeking to reclaim their jobs and win injunctive relief.
The IGs claim Trump’s firings broke the law. A recently amended Inspector General Act mandates the President notify Congress at least 30 days ahead of a termination with specific rationale and justification.
As the lawsuit details, mere days after Trump’s inauguration, the IGs lost access to government email accounts, computer systems and verification cards. A White House staff member emailed each plaintiff a notice of their firing Jan. 24.
“President Trump is wrong to claim these actions were ‘common’ or ‘standard,’” said the plaintiffs. “President Trump’s attempt to eliminate a crucial and longstanding source of impartial, non-partisan oversight of his administration is contrary to the rule of law.”
It’s not the first time Grimm was fired. In 2020, after publishing a report on the COVID-19 pandemic and drawing scorn from Trump, she was fired but remained as Acting Inspector General when a replacement failed to be confirmed. President Joe Biden then named her as the agency’s sixth IG in 2022.
Grimm is a longtime civil servant at HHS, working in the Clinton, Bush Jr. and Obama administrations. She managed more than 1,500 workers at OIG and issued more than 450 reports as IG, the lawsuit noted. Agency implementation from her recommendations saved upwards of $18.5 billion.
She worked on reports and audits about topics such as the health of migrant children, nursing homes and Medicaid payments. IGs are tasked with finding waste, fraud and abuse within their agencies, the stated aim of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Senators Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, wrote to the President, concerned they didn’t receive proper notice.
“Plaintiffs’ purported removals have sent shockwaves and a massive chilling effect through the IG community,” the lawsuit reads. “IGs and Offices of Inspector General have been sent a message that non-partisanship and truth-telling will not be tolerated. That message will have the effect of intimidating the OIG workforce and thus chill their critical work for the American people.”