Trump announced late Friday that he was firing the inspector general, Steve Linick, an Obama administration appointee whose office was critical of what it saw as political bias in the State Department's management. Linick is the third inspector general the administration has fired in the last two months.
Linick, whose office also took issue with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server while she served as America's top diplomat, played a minor role in the Ukraine impeachment investigation into Trump. The firing came after he reportedly opened an investigation into Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
"Once again we have another 'Friday night massacre' of another inspector general for no good cause," said Sen. Bob Menendez on CNN.
He continued, "When you fire them with impunity, you are sending a chilling message to every inspector general of every department that when you step on the administration's toes, then you are fired. That cannot stand."
Menendez announced he was helping spearhead an investigation into the recent string of inspector general firings by the president.
"The president doesn't want any investigations. He wants no transparency, and at the same time he creates a diversion from his lack of readiness of dealing with this pandemic," the senator charged.
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Menendez added he's looking at legislation to strengthen the watchdog role, and to stop these kinds of firings.
"This is outrageous," he said. "Inspector general is supposed to be independent. They are there for the purpose of making sure agencies act appropriately."
The president said of the firing, "It's vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as inspector general. That's no longer the case with regard to this inspector general."
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa on Saturday defended the role of the inspector general in the federal government and noted that Congress requires written reasons to justify removal. "A general lack of confidence simply is not sufficient detail to satisfy Congress,” Grassley said in a statement that did not mention Trump or Pompeo.
Trump advisor Pete Navarro told ABC's "This Week" the fuss over the turnovers is much ado about nothing.
"I don't mourn the loss of people when they leave this bureaucracy," he said. "There's always going to be somebody better to replace them, somebody more loyal not to the president necessarily, but to the Trump agenda. That's what's important."