In a move the New York Times described as a “late-night purge,” Trump fired at least 18 of the 73 federal inspectors general, the officials responsible for reporting on waste and abuse at their respective agencies, on Friday. Trump told reporters Saturday night aboard Air Force One that he was not planning to install loyalists to the now vacant inspector general positions, assuring the press that “we’ll put people in there that will be very good.” Many of the officials he dismissed have a history of financially supporting the president’s political opponents.

Loren Sciurba, who served as the inspector general at the Treasury Department, for instance, gave roughly $2,300 to former Vice President Kamala Harris and other Democratic campaigns during the 2024 election cycle. The FEC has records of Sciurba donating to Democrats as far back as 2014, though the vast majority of his roughly $3,000 in lifetime contributions came during the most recent election cycle.

ProPublica obtained a video from the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 political appointee training module in which conservative opposition researcher Tom Jones advised that the incoming administration clear out ideologically motivated inspectors general to avoid “witch hunts” and select new officials who will “ensure that waste, fraud, and abuse is rooted out.” The president publicly distanced himself from Project 2025 on the campaign trail.

Other ousted inspectors general with a history of Democratic donations included Christi Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert Storch of the Defense Department, Michael Missal of the Department of Veterans Affairs, Krista Boyd of the Office of Personnel Management, and John Sopko, who served as the special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction.

Sopko has donated thousands to Democratic political committees over his lifetime, Boyd made multiple contributions to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, while Missal and Storch were both donors to former President Barack Obama.

Storch, despite donating $1,500 to Obama and the Democratic National Committee, was sharply critical of former President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. In remarks given to the House Oversight Committee, Storch said the American-supported Afghani army was not “self-sufficient and resilient” prior to the U.S. withdrawal in early 2021.

Overall, the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General found that the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces “became overreliant on U.S. and coalition forces to execute essential functions, such as training, logistics, maintenance, and support,” Storch said. “Senior U.S. leaders acknowledged that the ANDSF remained overly dependent on U.S. and international support. Additionally, corruption within Afghan security institutions was a contributing factor in the collapse of the Afghan government, according to DoD officials.”

Sopko also displayed a willingness to release information damaging to the Biden administration during his tenure at the Office of the SIGAR, reporting in 2024 that taxpayer-funded aid had fallen into the hands of the Taliban.

A few of the inspectors general dismissed by Trump had a history of donating to Republicans.

Mark Greenblatt, whom Trump previously appointed to serve as inspector general for the Interior Department and was part of the most recent round of firings, meanwhile, warned in an interview with the New York Times that the president risks setting off “a never-ending cycle of politicization” by incentivizing future Democratic presidents to fire his appointees.

Greenblatt, who worked as a Senate Republican staffer in the 2000s, donated $850 to Republican political campaigns between 2006 and 2007, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s presidential bid, according to FEC records.

Inspectors general Eric Soskin of the Transportation Department and Sean O’Donnell of the Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, also previously donated to Republicans. While O’Donnell’s only contributions were to former presidential candidate Mitt Romney, whom Trump publicly dislikes, Soskin gave roughly $100 to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign. Soskin also gave over $1,000 to Romney’s 2012 campaign.

There is some evidence that Trump may have retained inspectors general that he feels will give him favorable coverage.

Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department inspector general, survived Trump’s wave of Friday night firings. The president previously praised his work.

“Michael Horowitz, we’re keeping,” Trump said Saturday. “I thought his report on [former FBI Director James] Comey was incredible, actually. Such an accurate, well-done report.”

The president was referencing a report produced by Horowitz that was critical of Comey’s investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign. Horowitz has also criticized the FBI for forcing an agent to go on unpaid leave for years after he questioned how the agency was handling the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

The impact of Trump’s inspector general firings remains up in the air as some argue the dismissals were illegal. State Department Inspector General Cardell Richardson, who was among those fired, even told his staff to show up for work in defiance of the president.

The White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.