Schiff: Trump broke law with watchdog firings

Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) on Sunday accused President Trump of breaking the law by ousting more than a dozen internal government watchdogs.

“As someone who introduced the Protecting Our Democracy Act, which was designed in part to protect inspectors general, to write off this clear violation of law by saying ‘well, technically, he broke the law,’ Yeah, he broke the law,” Schiff told NBC News’s Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.”

More than a dozen inspectors general were removed at different federal agencies late Friday, including at the departments of Defense, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs.

Trump defended his move while speaking to reporters traveling with him on Air Force One on Saturday night.

"It's a very common thing to do," Trump asserted, while adding of the watchdogs: "Some people thought that some were unfair, some were not doing their job."

Democrats have strongly criticized the firing of the independent government watchdogs, suggesting it could violate federal law requiring the president to give Congress a 30-day notice.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) defended Trump's move in a Sunday TV interview but acknowledged the president "should have" notified Congress 30 days before the removals.

“But the question is, is it OK for him to put people in place that he thinks can carry out his agenda? Yeah. He won the election. What do you expect him to do? Just leave everybody in place in Washington before he got elected?” Graham said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“This makes perfect sense to me,” he continued. “Get new people. He feels like the government hasn’t worked very well for the American people. These folks did a pretty lousy job. He wants some new eyes on Washington. That makes sense to me.”

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said over the weekend, "I don’t understand why one would fire individuals whose mission it is to root out waste, fraud and abuse."

“The American people, if we don't have good and independent inspector generals, are going to see the swamp refill, they're gonna rampant waste fraud, they're going to see corruption,” Schiff said Sunday on NBC.

The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.