USDA Inspector General Escorted from Office After Refusing to Comply with Trump Order

Security personnel reportedly removed the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from her office Monday after she refused to acknowledge that she had been fired by the Trump administration.

Reuters reported that Phyllis Fong, a 22-year veteran of the department, had told colleagues of her plans to stay on despite being terminated on Friday, arguing that the new administration did not follow the proper protocols for her removal.

Fong was among 17 inspectors general notified of their terminations that day.

“In an to colleagues on Saturday, reviewed by Reuters, she said the independent Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency ‘has taken the position that these termination notices do not comply with the requirements set out in law and therefore are not effective at this time,’” the news outlet said.

🚨BREAKING: Security removes USDA Inspector General Phyllis Fong from her office after defying Trump’s termination orders. pic.twitter.com/4DkbRddmT4

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 29, 2025

In a Friday letter to the White House Director of Presidential Personnel, CIGIE Council Chairman Hannibal “Mike” Ware, wrote based on federal law as amended in 2022 that Trump must notify Congress 30 days before the removal of an IG and provide, “substantive rationale, included detailed and case-specific reasons” for the removal.

“I recommend that you reach out to White House Counsel to discuss your intended course of action,” Ware said.

The New York Times reported that the IGs that the Trump administration removed besides Fong were those at the Departments Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, and Veterans Affairs.

“They also included, [Ware] said, a special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction and the internal watchdogs at the Environmental Protection Agency, the White House’s Office of Personnel Management and Mr. Ware’s own two agencies, the Small Business Administration and the Social Security Administration,” according to the Times.

The news outlet noted the Inspector General Act of 1978 was passed in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal.

“The idea was to have officials embedded in major parts of the executive branch who did not report to that department or agency’s head, and so were able to perform independent internal oversight,” The Times said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the IG removals, “a glaring sign that it’s a Golden Age for abuse in government and even corruption,” Politico reported.

“These firings are Donald Trump’s way of telling us he is terrified of accountability and is hostile to facts and to transparency,” he said from the Senate floor on Saturday.

Trump defended the removal of the IGs on Saturday aboard Air Force One telling reporters, “It’s a very common thing to do,” and noting not all of them were fired.

“[Department of Justice IG] Michael Horowitz, we’re keeping. I thought his report on [former FBI Director James] Comey was incredible, actually. It was such an accurate, well-done report,” the president said.

In December 2019, Horowitz, a Barack Obama appointee, released a report excoriating the FBI’s chain of command, including Comey, for the agency’s handling of the Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign.

IG Horowitz referred the ENTIRE chain of command of Obama’s FBI for further investigation

Incredible pic.twitter.com/kXI1agEcoD

— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) December 11, 2019

Trump added, regarding the fired IGs, “I don’t know them, but some people thought that some were unfair or some were not doing the job. And it’s a very standard thing to do, very much like the U.S. attorneys.”

Asked if he planned to put his “own people” in the vacant IG positions, the president said, “They’re not my people.  I don’t know anybody that would do that, but we’ll put people in there that will be very good.”

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